


falling to get to you

by GORMIE



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Azgeda Clarke Griffin, Endgame Clarke Griffin/Lexa, F/F, Grounder Clarke Griffin, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Implied/Referenced Torture, Minor Character Death, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Protective Lexa, Sad Clarke, Slow Burn Clarke Griffin/Lexa
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-03
Updated: 2019-04-01
Packaged: 2019-04-17 23:50:20
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 20
Words: 30,835
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14200323
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GORMIE/pseuds/GORMIE
Summary: The Ark has strict laws against having more than one child. They became even stricter when Thelonious Jaha became Chancellor. In the past, the mother would be floated and then the extra child would be put into lock up until there 18th birthday when they would be reviewed. Now, the mother is floated along with the child. If the second child is a twin then both get floated. The father's punishment is to live with the fact that his wife and child(ren) are dead.What happens when Jake and Abby Griffin find out they are pregnant with twins?





	1. Chapter 1

Abby and Jake Griffin were extatic by the news. After many tries they were finally going to have a baby. With the harsh rules the Ark had about childbirth they almost gave up trying. Thankfully they didn’t and Abby was just confirmed to be pregnant by the test she had just taken in the bathroom. 

About a week later the two of them were in the medbay. Abby’s mentor, Dr. Cass Drake, had just finished a blood test and confirmed that Abby was indeed pregnant. 

They were happier than they had even been. The two of them couldn’t wait to meet their child.

 

\--------------

 

Abby was now 3 months pregnant and the Griffins were going in to get a first look at their baby.

They were greeted by Dr. Drake and he took them into an examination room. They talked a little bit about how the pregnancy had been going and then got down to why they were there. 

Dr. Drake squirted some gel onto the woman’s stomach to complete an ultrasound. 

Jake and Abby were lost in there one little world so happy that they would be greeted with a son or daughter in the near future that they did not see the expression on Dr. Drake’s face turn form one of happiness for the young couple to one of sorrow and dread.

Jake looked up when he heard a throat clear across from him and decided that something was very wrong. Dr. Drake turned to him and his face only confirmed what Jake was thinking. 

_Something was very wrong._

“What’s wrong doc? What my kid have three legs or something?” Jake asked jokingly trying to deflect attention away from his worried state. Abby perked up at this, now finally catching on to what was happening in the room.

When he received no answer he became a bit more serious, “Seriously, Dr. Drake is something wrong with the baby?”

“No… No, the babies are healthy,” he said glancing at the couple sympathetically. 

“Then that’ good! Nothing to worry abo…” he cut himself off realizing what the doctor had just said, “Wait. Babies? Plural?”

“Yes,” was all he gained in response.

“Oh! NO!! No, Jake this can’t be happening! No, please, no!” Abby started to cry while her husband wrapped her in his arms to provide some comfort wish he could take her pain away.

“I’m very sorry,” and with that Dr. Drake stepped out of the room.

The two of them stayed like that for a while. Abby sobbing into her husband’s arms. Jake whispering quiet reassurances to his wife.

They were interrupted from their thoughts by Dr. Drake coming back into the room.

“We are sorry Dr. Drake, we'll be getting out of your way in just a moment,” Jake apologized quickly think that the doctor was there to tell them to get going.

“No, no Jake. I’m not kicking you out,” ha said correcting the younger man, “I’m giving you a solution. There is another woman on the Ark expecting a second child. She is planning on hiding the child in a compartment hidden under the floor in her cabin. I can help deliver both babies and hide one of the children for you. I will provide check-ups and anything else you need. I am already getting the other mother extra food when the baby eventually comes. I can help you too. Abby, you have always been like the daughter I never had. I have never met anyone with bigger hearts than the two of you. If i am going to help anyone break Thelonious’s laws it would be you too, and since I already am for someone else the there is no point in me saying to to you too.”

Abby and Jake sat there in shock for a few moments. Then suddenly the doctor was engulfed in a hug by the couple. 

“Thank you Dr. Drake! Thank you! Thank you!” An echo of thank yous was all that could be heard by the older man, not even being able to tell which person they were coming from.

 

\--------------

 

On the day the twins were due to arrive, Jake and Abby were both ecstatic, worried beyond belief and hopeful. They were ecstatic due to the fact that they were about to be parents for the first time. They were worried beyond belief because they feared the Chancellor might find out that that Abby had given birth to twins. If that happened, Thelonious would have Abby and both of the twins floated and no one wanted that to happen. They were also hopeful, though, because they couldn’t wait to see what the future would hold for them.

Dr. Drake had come to the Griffin’s cabin so that there would not be trouble getting one of the babies back to the cabin from medbay after delivery. 

The first baby that came out was a beautiful little baby boy named Xavier James Griffin. He had chestnut hair just like his mom and the bluest eyes anyone had ever seen. They were just like his dad’s. He came out and didn’t even cry. He squirmed a bit and made a few squeaks that let everyone know that he was okay but for the most part was very mellow.

The second, and last, baby that came out was a baby girl. She had a full head of golden locks and was screaming her head off. She was placed into her father’s arms and calmed down a bit, but not much. The newborn opened her eyes and if someone thought Xavier’s eyes were blue then no one had see his twins eyes. They were as if the bright blue sky and the blue of the ocean mixed together to make the color of the little girl’s eyes. They named her Clarke Abigail Griffin and she was a firecracker.

After he checked out the two newborns, Dr. Drake left the family to their cabin. He warned them to be careful and that he would be by later to check up again and see how Abby and the kids were doing. They thanked him for everything he had done for them and their family.

 

\--------------

 

It was the twins third birthday and Jake had a surprise that would probably make everything else Clarke was ever given as a present incomparable. Jake, being an engineer and everything, had designed a cart that had a hidden compartment just big enough to hide 3 year old Clarke in to see around the Ark.

He knew that this could only be a one time thing as the cart was made of parts that would have to be used to fix the Ark, but anything he could do to make his little girl’s day special he would. Thankfully he had talked to Abby, who by some miracle was letting this happen, so that he would not get yelled at if she found out about this later. 

Jake made his way down the hallway towards his family’s cabin after completing half a day’s worth of work. He took the afternoon off so that he could spend the rest of the day with the twins given that it was their birthday. 

When he walked through the door he was greeted with the usual sight of when he came home around lunch time. Xavier was at the table in the kitchen eating something Abby had prepared for him probably a few minutes ago when she got home. (Vera Kane usually watches the kids while the older Griffins are at work. They trust that she will not tell Thelonious of Clarke’s existence.) And Clarke was sitting right next to her brother ignoring her food and drawing in a sketchbook. She maybe only three, but Jake knew that his daughter was a gifted artist. Abbh was sitting across from their children reading what Jake assumed to be a patient’s file while she ate.

Clarke was the first to notice that Jake had entered and sprinted over towards her father who picked her up and swung her around.

“Happy birthday sweetie!” Jake said in her ear and then kissed Clarke’s temple.

As she was set down she exclaimed, “Thank you daddy! What’s that?!” she questioned noticing the strange object Jake had brought home with him. With that question both Xavier and Abby turned to look what Clarke was talking about. 

“This, kiddo, is your present!” he told her excitedly.

“Why would I need a cart daddy?” Clarke asked confused.

Jake walked over to the cart and opened a panel in the side of it and then began to explain, “This is a hidden compartment with a little viewing hole. I’m going to take you around the Ark in it.”

“Really daddy?!” Clarke was so happy.

“Clarke can come outside with me?” Xavier hopped into the conversation.

“Yes, but she has to be very quiet. Like when she is hiding and the Chancellor is in the room searching. And Xavier, if you come out with us you can’t talk to or about Clarke like usual. I know how much you want to but we have to keep your sister safe. Okay?” Abby said.

“Yes, mom,” they both replied in unison.

Clarke then got into the compartment and they closed the door. She had a little peep hole that was constructed and placed well enough that she could see out but others couldn’t see in. 

The family exited the cabin together and started to make their way around the Ark. People didn’t find it strange to see Jake wheeling around a cart due to the nature of his job. They went to the cafeteria to see where some people on the Ark ate. They went to the medbay that Abby was now in charge of. They went to the area that engineering worked out of so that Clarke could see where Jake worked as well. They traveled all over the Ark. Clarke got to see Factory Station, Mecha Station, Alpha Station, Farm Station, Arrow Station, Hydra Station, and Tesla Station. The only station Clarke didn’t see was Prison Station, and thankfully so because the cart would have been searched if they went anywhere near it and Clarke could have easily been found. 

Towards the end of the mini adventure Xavier decided he wanted his sister to see where he went to school. He had just started this year and was upset that his twin couldn’t go with him and he couldn’t even tell anyone about his twin. When his parents explained that it was too keep his little sister safe he did as he was told because all he wanted to do was protect Clarke. He successfully brought up going to the classroom without saying Clarke’s name so Jake decided it would be okay.

As they approached the classroom they ran into a teacher. That teacher being Charles Pike. The Griffin’s hated Pike. He was one of Jaha’s minions and they hated Jaha. Pike started to question what they were doing there because there was no class today and even if there was, it would be in the morning due to Xavier only being three. Xavier quickly came to the rescue and explained that he had drawn a picture that he wanted to show to his parents but had left it in the classroom. Pike accepted this answer and told them to hurry up. Jake and Abby were so proud of there son and how he kept his twin safe.

They made their way back to their cabin and celebrated Clarke and Xavier’s birthday. 

That was Clarke’s favorite birthday. She got to spend it with her whole family and get to see the whole Ark. It was one of two times she would ever see any other part of the Ark besides the inside of the family cabin. The second time being when she was being dragged away from her family and towards a drop ship.


	2. Chapter 2

It all happened on a normal day for the Griffin family. Together they were sitting in their living space. Abby was in one of two chairs reading a patient file she had taken home from work. Xavier was sitting on the couch with Jake tinkering with a part that Jake had taken back home specifically to do just this. Clarke was sitting on the floor drawing in her sketchbook with the new pencils Xavier had brought home from school with him. 

The twins were six years old now and Xavier was going to school for full days now. Abby and Jake were teaching Clarke everything that her brother was learning in class but she still felt left out at times. To compensate for this, and make his sister feel better, Xavier would sometimes bring home little gifts from school to give to his twin. Clarke cherished every gift her brother gave her and she loved them all. But, whenever he brought home something she could draw on or with were the best gifts so he always tried to get a crayon or pencil or marker so he could give it to Clarke.

As they were sitting in the living area there was a knock on the door. They weren’t expecting anyone so Abby told Clarke to get into her little compartment in the floor. Xavier helped her in and shut the top and then placed a chair on top of it. The little boy then grabbed the contraption that Jake and him had been tinkering with in order to look like he was doing something while sitting in the chair that was placed above Clarke.

While that was happening Abby was making sure all of Clarke’s drawing supplies were put away neatly and she sat back down and continued to read. Jake had made his way over to the door and only opened it when he saw that everything was in order.

“Thelonious. Pike,” he greeted the two men at the door but did not acknowledge the four guards standing behind them. “What is this about?”

“Where is she?!” Jaha spit out.

“Abby is right over there with Xavier. Why what do you need?” Jake asked with fake concern.

“Not your wife you fucker,” Pike said getting angry. Jake grew worried at what the two men were implying. 

“Who else would you be looking for then?” Jake faked ignorance, “You said she and Abby is the only one you could mean by that.”

“Search the cabin.”

At Jaha’s order the guards entered the cabin and began to tear the place apart. They started with the kitchen and then headed to the two bedrooms. All three turned up empty so they looked towards their leaders for what to do. Abby and Jake were standing in front of the entrance to the living room too not only protect Clarke but also to not let Xavier realizing what was happening. 

“Search the living area too,” Pike demanded. Jaha gave a nod to let the guards know that is what they were meant to do. 

“Set aside please,” one of the guards told the Griffins but neither moved.

“What gives you the right to order me around in my home?” Abby asked, “You have destroyed the rest of it. Why should I let you in? Why should I let any of you near my son?”

“Set aside ma’am,” the officer said with more force.

Jake pulled Abby away from the doorway while saying, “Abby just do what they ask. Xavier come here please.”

Xavier didn’t want to move. He wanted to protect his little sister but knew he had to do as his father told him. He carefully set down what he was working with on the chair and headed towards his parents.

The guards began to search the last room of the cabin and didn’t originally find anything. At that moment Pike had an idea that would bring devastation to the Griffin family. 

“Move the furniture,” was all he said. Pike was watching the Griffins’ faces and saw the dread that crossed the older twos. Xavier, only being six didn’t understand what was happening.

The guards began to move the couch and the chair that Abby was originally reading in. They searched the floor but found nothing once again. Pike moved across the room and started to move the chair that was placed over where Clarke was hiding in the floor.

The dark skinned man began to inspect to area underneath the chair and noticed a notch. He began to peel up the floor and found a little girl cowering in fear underneath. 

Xavier was the first to realize that Pike was reaching down to grab his sister so he shot forward and started to scream. “NO!!! NO, DON’T TOUCH HER!!! CLARKE!! PUT HER DOWN!!!” A guard picked him up preventing the little boy from getting to his twin. 

Abby was next to try and stop Pike and Jaha, “STOP!!! PLEASE!!! PLEASE, PUT HER DOWN!!! LEAVE HER ALONE PLEASE!!!” Abby began to sob and was held back by another one of the guards.

Jake saw red the moment Pike reached out to grab his little girl. It only got worse with the guards restraining his son and wife. “I swear if you do anything to them I will kill you! YOU HEAR ME JAHA!?!? I’LL KILL YOU! YOU TOO PIKE!! I’LL KILL BOTH OF YOU!!!” Two guards stepped up and restrained the man but he broke loose and lunged for Pike who now held Clarke by her hair. She was now crying out for her dad but he couldn’t get to her. 

“I won’t hurt any of them Jake,” Jaha said in an eerily calm manner after the eldest Griffin was restrained again.

“What?!” Pike was utterly confused, “You won’t hurt them? All three of them should be floated!” 

“No. We need both Jake and Abby. They are the best engineer and doctor we have. I have a use for that useless girl. They can keep their son. He seems to be smart. That can help us in the future.”

The guards held the family back while Jaha directed Pike, who was dragging Clarke along with him, out if the room. 

The guards followed after the two men and left the family alone for the night. 

The Griffins cried together all night long. Clarke sat scared and alone in a cell in Prison Station. She had finally seen all of the Ark like she had always wanted to. She never imagined the cost would be so big, even though she could barely understand what was happening.

 

\--------------

 

The next morning Jake and Abby were ordered in front of the council and told to bring Xavier with them. Abby was on the council but had no idea what was happening. 

They approached the council room and could see Kane and Callie standing outside of the door. Kane was the first of the two to see the Griffins and approached them slowly.

“Jake. Abby. I’m so sorry,” Callie said. The two knew of Clarke’s existence. Callie because she was Abby’s best friend and Marcus because of his mother. 

“Thank you,” Jake replied meekly.

The five entered the room. Xavier was clinging to his mother’s pant leg crying silently. He hadn’t stopped since Clarke was taken out of the family’s cabin forcibly last night.

Once all the council members were seated at the table, well all besides Abby, Jaha entered the room. He sat in his chair with Pike standing beside him like a watchdog.

“Where’s Clarke?” Jake asked angrily.

“Who?” Jaha retorted.

“Our daughter,” said Abby. “The scared little girl you stole last night.”

Abby was angry and everyone in the room could tell.

“Oh the juvenile delinquent that you were harboring in your home? She is no longer on the Ark,” he said calmly and with no emotion.

“YOU FLOATED HER?!? I’LL KILL YOU!!! YOU SICK BASTARD!!!” Jake began shouting. Abby started to cry and Xavier just sobbed more because his mom was crying.

“I did not float her. She was sent to Earth.”

“It’s the same thing. Sending her to Earth was a death sentence. She was six Thelonious. The same age as your own son. Do you even have a soul?” Kane asked the Chancellor. The council had no idea that the Griffins had another child. They didn’t know about the fact that Jaha had sent a child to die. They knew none of this. The only thing they knew was that the man who sat at the head of the table across from the broken Griffin family was a monster.

“We needed to see if Earth was habitable. She was an unnecessary member of the Ark so we gave her a role,” Pike explained.

“You killed an innocent child is what you did. It’s what you two have been doing since Jaha became Chancellor. You two are murderers,” another council member said. 

“How did you even find out about the child?” a curious member of the council asked.

“We were clearing out Dr. Drake’s cabin yesterday, he died early yesterday morning, and found a journal. It described that there were two hidden children on the Ark. The first being that child that died a few months ago. You know the one. The description of twins that a couple had led me to the Griffins. The jornal didn’t have any names in it but I just assumed,” Jaha said proud of himself.

“YOU SICK, SICK MAN!” yelled Abby, “You killed my little girl!” and with that she began to cry again. The woman almost collapsed but Jake caught her.

Xavier didn’t understand why he was there and why his parents were yelling. He didn’t understand why Clarke was taken out of the room or where she was taken to. He looked up with tears in his eyes and asked, “Daddy, where’s Clarke?”

Jake looked down at his son and had to stop the tears from falling out of his eyes and responded, “She’s on an adventure buddy. She may not be back for a while but she is having fun and finally gets to see outside like she always wanted.”

“Okay,” Xavier said sadly.

“Hey don’t be sad buddy. Clarke wouldn’t want you to be sad,” Jake said trying to comfort his son.

“Why didn’t she take me with her?” he asked.

“She wanted to take you with her buddy, but she had to go really quickly and the spaceship she’s in could only hold one person. Clarke misses you so much. I know she does,” Jake said leaning down and engulfing his son in a huge hug. 

“Okay,” Xavier said accepting what Jake had told him, “When she comes back she can tell me all about it right?”

“Yep, she’ll tell you all about it,” Jake said finally letting the tears slip.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For the next few chapters the story is going to follow Clarke and what happens when she reaches the ground. We won't see anything from the ark for a little while but they will come back into play later. 
> 
> Hope you liked the chapter ;)


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Any words that are italicized are in Trigedasleng. Well in this case Azgedasleng because I took some liberties. Sue me. 
> 
> I hope you like it! :)

Clarke was woken up by a rattling. She slowly came to but was confused as to where she was. Since she had only been outside of the Griffin family cabin one time she had no idea where she was. She started to look around but didn’t see anything that she recognised. But once again why would she recognize anything the trip outside was three years ago when she was only three years old.

Blue eyes were clouded over with tears that soon fell down red cheeks. She was scared. Clarke was always with someone, she had never been alone in her life. Her mom and dad were always there or Xavier was. If none of them were it was either Mrs. Kane or Abby’s friend Callie. The little girl was terrified. Even while she was under the floor, there was always someone in the cabin, they never left her alone. 

All Clarke wanted in this moment was her mom, dad, and brother. Little did she know that she was around 250 miles away from her family. She was on the ground.

Clarke, only being six, didn’t realize that she had hit her head during entry into the Earth’s atmosphere. What she did notice however was the shooting pain up her right arm. It hurt so much and she cried more because of it. The pain from her arm caused her to not identify the pain caused by a large gash on the side of her head and was bleeding profusely. She eventually passed out from both pain and blood loss.

 

\--------------

 

Clarke woke up again a second time to strange voices speaking a strange language. She hadn’t opened her eyes yet but could feel that she was on a soft surface that felt like a bed. 

Clarke slowly opened her blue eyes but was startled by the bright light that hit them. She groaned which caused the voices around her to cease. 

_“Can you hear me?”_ a voice asked in that strange language. 

She opened her eyes again but much slower this time to adjust to the light. The little girl could see two people standing in front of her. There was a man and a woman who both wore white furs and had scars on their faces. The man had dark black hair and dull green eyes. The woman had light brown, almost blonde, hair and hazel eyes. 

“I…” Clarke hesitated, “I don’t understand you.”

_“Penn! She is speaking gonasleng! She could be from the mountain. Don’t get closer,”_ said the woman.

“What?!” Clarke asked even more confused and began to cry. “I just want to go home. I want my mom and dad.” 

“It’s okay little one,” said the man and Clarke actually understood him, “What clan are you from?”

“What’s a clan?” Clarke asked crying a little less.

_“See, she is from the mountain,”_ the woman said.

Penn ignored the woman and crouched down so he was at Clarke’s height while resting on the bed. Clarke began to scoot away in fear.

“It is okay little one,” he said quietly as to not scare the blonde more, “I will not hurt you. My name is Penn and this is my wife Eri. What is your name little one?”

“Clarke Griffin…” she answered hesitantly and inbetween sniffles.

“Nice to meet you Clarke Griffin,” he said.

“Nice to meet you too. I am just called Clarke though,” she replied growing a little bit more comfortable.

“Where are you from Clarke?” the woman jumped in.

“I live on the Ark with my parents and brother.”

“Is that part of the mountain?” Penn asked.

“I don’t know what a montine is,” Clarke said butchering the word. “The Ark is up in the sky.”

“The sky?!” Eri asked astounded, “How do you live in the sky?!”

“My daddy says that we are in Earth’s orbit. I don’t know what that means but he said it keeps us in space but also makes sure we don’t float away,” she said proud of herself that she remembered.

_“How can a child be from the sky? That doesn’t make sense,”_ Penn said to his wife leaving Clarke confused again because she didn’t understand the language he was speaking.

_“When I was little my father used to tell me that there were people in the sky. I never believed him because it seemed crazy. He said that they escaped before Praimfaya and lived floating in the air. He also said that Bekka Pramheda was from the sky. It may seem crazy but I am starting to think he was right,”_ Eri explained to her husband.

“Are you really from the sky?” came a voice to the left of Clarke. She turned her head and saw a girl a bit older than she was standing in a doorway. She had light brown hair with deep brown eyes. 

_“Marcy I told you to stay in your room. Why didn’t you?”_ Penn asked.

“Who are you?” Clarke asked curiously not realizing the other girl was getting into trouble.

“I’m Marcy. I’m eight. Those are my parents. What about you?” the girl asked.

“I’m Clarke. I’m six!” she answered excitedly.

“So, are you really from the sky?!” Marcy asked excitedly. 

“Yeah,” Clarke said plainly, “Am I on the ground now?”

“Yes, you are on Azgeda land. You came in a big metal box. I was the one who found it!” Marcy declared proudly.

Penn and Eri backed out of the room and bit while the two girls were talking and were talking in hushed whisper.

“Thank you for finding me,” the blue eyed girl stated.

“You are welcome. So what was the sky like?”

“I don’t really know. I lived under the floor,” at this Penn and Eri stopped their conversation and turned back to the girls talking on the other side of the room. “My mom said that there are laws that say you can’t have more than one kid, but I have a twin brother. I had to hide under the floor so that we wouldn’t get into trouble. The mean Chancellor found out though and took me away from them. I miss my family.” 

Clarke began to cry again and Eri started talking to her husband his hushed whispers. Marcy tried to comfort the other girl but it only worked a little bit. 

“Is that true?” Eri asked concerned and repulsed by the implications of what Clarke had just said, “We you taken away from your family for being born?!”

“Yes. Mom always told me that she wished I didn’t have to be under the floor. So did daddy. But, mom said that it was because of the mean Chancellor. She said that we could get in trouble and hurt if anyone knew about me. Mom’s friend Callie knew, but she never told anyone. And there was Mrs. Kane too but she was nice. She gave me candy even though it was really hard to get. I only ever got candy on my birthday or from Mrs. Kane,” Clarke said growing happier while talking about candy.

“This Chancellor person sounds horrible,” Penn said.

“You are safe here Clarke. You don’t have to hide here,” Marcy said hugging the younger girl who hugged her back.

“You two stay here. I mean it Marcy,” Penn scolded his daughter, _“I have to go talk to your mother in the other room. Please watch out for her.”_

_“Okay nontu,”_ said Marcy.

With that Penn and Eri left the room. 

“What is that language you speak?” Clarke asked.

“Azgedasleng. I means Ice Nation language. Each clan has their own, but they are all very similar. Except for Ingranronakru. Theirs is very different,” Marcy said. 

Marcy began to teach the younger girl all about the clans and their languages and where they all were. Clarke only being six and growing up in space didn’t understand a lot about the locations and types of land all the clans were on. She did learn that there were 12 though and that they were not all at war, but many were. She learned that Polis was where all the clans could go and no one could act against a member of another clan within the boundaries of the city, even in times of war. Polis was a safe zone. Clarke liked the idea of that. 

They talked about everything and anything after that but were soon interrupted when Eri came back into the room followed by Penn.

“Clarke?” Eri said quietly trying to gain the blonde’s attention, “Would you like to stay with us? Since you are away from your family? We can take care of you and you can become apart of our family.”

“But, I already have a family,” the blued eyed girl said sadly. She really missed her mom, dad, and twin.

“Oh, no Clarke. We would not be replacing them. You would be apart of our family but still apart of theirs as well,” Eri tried to explain.

“Oh, okay. Then yes, I will be part of your family!” she replied happily.

“Yay!” Marcy yelled hugging the little girl. 

Penn and Eri soon joined in the hug. 

That night Clarke learned all about her new family and Azgeda. In return she told them about what her life was like on the Ark and about her brother. She didn’t talk about her parents though because she was upset that they didn’t stop Jaha from taking her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading and all the support. 
> 
> I hope you liked it. :)


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once again Azgedasleng is in Italics. 
> 
> I really hope you like it!

Clarke slowly began to adjust to her new life. 

She got new clothes and wasn’t as cold as when she first woke up because of the nice furs Marcy gave her. She began to learn the language and was picking it up easily. She learned all about Azgeda and a little bit about the other clans. She learned that there were Twelve Clans. She learned that they live in a small village to the south and were close to the Delphikru border, but the border with Trikru wasn’t too far to the south. She learned that the Ice Queen, Nia, hated Trikru, but that wasn’t the case for all of Azgeda. She learned that Marcy goes to train with her first everyday. She learned that Penn is a gona in the Azgeda army. She learned that Eri is a hunter. She learned all about her new life and Earth. 

Clarke explored the village and began to know her way around it. She met the villagers and they were all very nice. There were some mean and rude people but she just stayed away from them. None of the villagers were aware that Clarke had fallen from the sky and Penn and Eri had told her and Marcy that they couldn’t tell anyone. Clarke knew how to keep her mouth shut from all her years of hiding on the Ark so she didn’t tell anyone.

Clarke also learned that when she turns seven she will get a first just like Marcy and begin to train. The blonde was really excited about this and told Penn that she would be seven soon. She told him that Jake had told her it was a few months away a few days before she was sent down to Earth. 

 

\--------------

 

Clarke was now seven and was finally becoming a second. Prince Roan had recently visited Clarke’s village and took a liking to the little sky girl. He was looking to take a second and decided that Clarke would be a good option. It was her or his mother’s option of Ontari, and he hated her so he went with the blonde.

Clarke had also told him that she was born in the sky but the prince didn’t believe her. He told Penn and Eri the imaginative story the little girl had made up, but they only confirmed that it was true. With this information, Roan decided that he had to take Clarke as his second and he could not tell his mother of her origins. He was not going to let her use another child as a weapon.

Roan had entered Clarke’s families hut and was waiting in the kitchen for the little girl.

_“Good morning second,”_ Roan greeted the blonde as she eagerly made her way into the room.

_“Good morning first,”_ she replied.

“Are you ready to go and start you training now?” Roan switched to english after that knowing that Clarke was still learning. 

“Yes!!!” the blonde shouted happily. Eri laughed at the little girls antics and said goodbye to the two as they exited the hut.

Roan began to led his second to the villages training grounds. It was peaceful until they got with hearing distance, and suddenly there were sounds of metal meeting metal, shouts, and grunts filling the air. He directed Clarke over to a small training pit that had a table on the outskirts. He made his way over to the table and picked up a wooden sword. Roan then turned around and handed the object to Clarke.

“We will start you training with this. When you get better you will get a real sword made for a warrior. Once you get the basics of sword fighting we move to hand to hand combat. Every warrior has a sword and knows how to use it and can stand their own in hand to hand combat. Then we will work with knives, next a bow and arrows, also spears, and lastly the staff. It starts with the basics of each for about a week with each then we move on. We will spend two months with each object and then rotate through them again diving a bit more into the weapon. I will determine what will work best for you after that. It is customary for a second to receive a specialized set of daggers, bow and arrows, spear, or staff when it is chosen what they will focus in. You will learn that object the most but also have a vast knowledge of the others as well. We will work on your Azgedasleng instead of gonasleng because you already know gonasleng. We will also go through the history of our people and learn about the other clans. Then we will learn about hunting and tracking. On some days we will go out and not return for a week or so on a hunting trip. There will also be the option of focusing on healing, tracking, scouting, or hunting when you are older. If you continue your training as strictly a warrior you may come to war if it approaches. Do you understand this second?” Roan asked.

“...no” Clarke responded to her first embarrassed that she didn’t understand it all and scared about some of the things her first had explained.

“That is okay Clarke. We are just going to start by learning sword fighting. Okay?” he asked tentatively sorry that he had overwhelmed the little girl.

“Yes,” the blonde responded with a bit more confidence.

“Then we will go this way,” Roan began to walk towards the center of the small pit.

Roan began to explain all about the sword and how to hold it. He corrected Clarke on her form and grip of the weapon. They started with small moves and blocks. 

Roan told Clarke, “The best offence is a good defense.” She had heard Jake say it before while watching soccer and thought it was funny that Roan said it too.

They trained all day until the sun began to set and the training grounds started to clear out. Roan told Clarke that she did well today and that she was to meet him here tomorrow right after the sun rises. 

The blue eyed girl nodded in reply and ran back to her house excited to talk about all she had learned that day.

The moment she entered the hut she saw Eri standing in the kitchen preparing dinner and said, “Nomun you are never going to guess what I learned today!”

Eri stiffened at this and stood in silence for a few moments. She turned around and Clarke saw that there were tears in her eyes. 

“Don’t cry nomun,” Clarke said walking over to the woman and raising her arms. The brunette picked up the blonde and felt tiny hands wiping at her cheeks where the tears had fallen.

“They are happy tears baby, happy tears,” she said to Clarke.

“What is going on here?” Penn asked walking into the room.

“Nomun’s crying. She said happy tears though. Right?” Clarke questioned looking towards the woman holding her expectant of an answer.

“Nomun, huh?” Penn looked at Eri with a raised eyebrow.

All the woman could do was nod in reply. She was too emotional to speak at the moment. 

“Then what does that make me baby girl?” the man said.

“Nontu of course,” she said as if it were an absurd question to ask.

Penn then leaned in to hug the two. Marcy walked in at that minute getting back from her training and joined in on the hug squeezing in between Eri and Penn. 

“Are two little goufas,” Eri hummed happily.

That was the first time Clarke had called Eri and Penn her nomun and nontu. She had surprised the two of them btu everyone soon got used to it. Marcy was so happy to have a little sister and Clarke was happy to have a family again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welp there ya go. I might have a second chapter out after today, but I don’t know we will see how far I get.
> 
> Hope you liked it!


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay for this chapter, whenever they speak it is in Azgedasleng.

“You can do better than that,” Roan scolded her. 

“Again!”

“Yes fos,” Clarke responded brushing some of the dirt off her coat.

Clarke began to slowly circle the ring as Roan did on the other side. They were training with the staff today and that has always been Clarke’s weakest element. 

Roan didn’t seem to be making the first move so Clarke didn’t either. She was watching her fos finding the one spot she could strike at. She found it and leaped forward. The staff struck down hard onto the back of Roan’s knee. He knelt from the blow not expecting that kind of force from his seken. Clarke began to then wind up for another tactical hit but it was blocked by Roan’s staff. He made is way up and the fight continued. After a few tough minutes of fight Clarke had Roan pinned and told him to concede. However, there was a yell from across the training grounds and Clarke became distracted. Roan flipped the 11 year old onto her back.

“Focus Clarke,” he said while getting off and pulling Clarke to her feet, “If you get distracted during a real fight you will end up dead and then all the time I have spent teaching you will have been for nothing.”

All the blonde did was nod in reply, disappointed in herself that she let down her mentor. 

“Go home. We are done for today. Tomorrow we leave on our hunting trip,” and with that he left.

Clarke made her way back to her family’s hut. She was determined to make her fos proud tomorrow but knew that she would have to work extra hard.

As she grew closer to the hut, she could smell dinner being cooked. Clarke had skipped lunch in order to get another hour of training in and so, she was starving. She ran the rest of the way and burst into the front door.

“Careful Clarke,” Eri scolded.

“Sorry nomun,” she said.

“I did not see you for lunch today. What were you doing?” Erin asked already knowing the answer. Her younger daughter loved to skip meals in order to get more training in.

“I was training with Roan. We were working with staffs today and you know I am not the best at that. I needed to work on it more,” Clarke explained trying to justify herself.

“Ah my strik goufa is home,” Penn said entering the room, kissing Clarke on the head, and saving his daughter from being yelled at.

“Hello nontu,” Clarke said.

“Penn, would you please tell your daughter that she has to eat every meal, everyday.”

“My daughter?” Penn said jokingly, “I thought she was both of our daughter.”

“When she doesn’t eat and gets all crabby because of it she is all your,” Eri said.

“Well then we will just have to feed her, won’t we?” he said looking at Clarke with a big grin on his face.

“I’m going to go find Marcy,” Clarke said leaving the kitchen as to not get yelled at for being in the way while her mother was making dinner.

Clarke made her way down the hallway to the back of the hut. There’s only had one story but was very long and wide. Many Azgeda homes we one story for heating purposes. Clarke had been fascinated the first time she saw a two story hut wondering how it all stayed up. 

The blonde could see Marcy sitting on her bed with her head facing the opposite direction. Clarke silently opened the door and began to make her way towards the bed. As she approached she jumped onto the back of her sister and got a scream in reply.

“Gotcha,” she said.

“Come on!” Marcy said.

“What’s the score now? 35-20? No, I think it’s more like 57-11!” Clarke said proudly rubbing it into her sister’s face.

“Why do we even count anymore? I can’t win and we both know it,” The brunette said turning around.

“Because it’s fun,” the blonde replied.

“Only for you,” Marcy grumbled out but Clarke didn’t hear.

“Are you excited for tomorrow?!” Clarke asked.

“Yes, Toron said that we get to maybe hunt for a moose this time! She said that if we do I get to make the kill!” Marcy answered.

“Wow!” Clarke replied in awe, “I want to hunt a moose.”

“You will get to, but this is your first group hunting trip so you will be getting a wolf probably.”

“I am, just so excited!” Clarke practically yelled.

“Girls, dinner is ready!” their nontu yelled from down the hall.

“We are coming!” they both replied in unison and then laughed.

The family ate their dinner while Penn and Clarke made their usual jokes. While there was a stillness about the evening for both Penn and Eli knowing that their daughters would be gone for a week or so hunting, there was also a joyousness. They finished eating and went to the living room to sit for a while. This was normal for them when one was going to be leaving the next morning.

After a little while of talking, Penn got up and disappeared towards the back of the house.

“Where is nontu going?” Clarke asked confused. She was the only one of the four to not know what was about to happen. 

Penn came back into the room with his hands behind his back. He moved towards his younger daughter and moved a box out from beh8nd his back and handed it to the girl. Clarke slowly opened it and found a beautifully crafted set of throwing knives.

Knives were the discipline of fighting Clarke had chosen after her initial training. She could throw a knife so well that she made it an art form. Most of the time when the knife was thrown, you couldn’t even see it before it was stuck in the object it was directed to. Clarke never missed a target. Many called her a prodigy with how good she was, but she was just happy that she had found something to excel at.

She closed the box up and launched herself at her parents engulfing them in hugs and kisses. 

“Thank you. Thank you. Thank you,” she said.

“They were made to match the arrows we gave to Marcy on the day of her first hunt. The box is made of the same tree her bow was made from and the leather of the sheaths is the same as her arrows holder. I hope you like them,” Eri explained.

“Yes, I love them thank you nomun!” Clarke said gleefully, “Can I go try them?”

“Only if Marcy goes with you,” Penn stated.

The girls then shot up out of their seats and went to try out Clarke’s gift. Marcy grabbed her bow and arrows on the way out. 

They were out there until the sun started to set and Eri called them in for bed. Clarke fell asleep with a smile on her face.

 

———————

 

The next morning Clarke and Marcy had gotten up extra early. They both got dressed and made their ways to the kitchen for breakfast. After eating they headed back to their rooms to braid their hair and get their respective weapons. Clarke braided her older sister’s hair in many intricate braids just as her mother had taught her to do. Marcy then braided Clarke’s hair in one long braid, but this time incorporated one of the sheathes that Clarke had been given last night. After finishing she tucked a knife into the sheath in her little sister’s hair. It was very well hidden but easily accessible.

Marcy went to grab her arrows and slung the case onto her back. She then but on her belt that had her sword and dagger and grabbed the bow. Clarke rolled up her sleeves and strapped a sheath to each arm then rolled the sleeves back down. She tucked two knives into her boots and strapped one to each thigh. There was one left which she placed into a padded area on her pants in order to keep it hidden. She also but on her belt that contained her sword and dagger. This is how they got ready every morning.

They were all ready.

The two girls said goodbye to their parents and headed towards the training grounds where they were both to meet their fos. The sun had just started to peak beyond the horizon as they set off.

 

———————

 

The hunting trip had been a huge success. 

Marcy had killed he first moose and Clarke had gotten not one but two wolves. One of them was larger than her. 

They had been gone for a week and were ready to go home to their parents. 

As they grew closer to the village the could see a soft glow in the distance. They did not know what is was but ignored it for the time being. The two girls were just too excited to tell their parents about what happened on the trip. The sisters only wanted them to be proud of their accomplishments. 

They soon found out what the glow was and it troubled them. They could see flames wicking off a few buildings in the village. They were scared and didn’t know what to expect as they entered the gates of where they grew up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so wow, three chapters in one day. Well here it is! :/

The villagers were screaming. There were at least 12 homes on fire. It only looked like two or three from a distance, but it was definitely at least four times that amount. The hunting party frantically separated to go help or look for their families. People everywhere were crying and yelling for help. There were people hugging what looked to charred remains. 

Clarke grew scared and started to cry. 

“Hey, hey sis. It’s okay,” Marcy said pulling on her leg to tell her to get down from the horse. Clarke did as directed and was immediately carried by her sister. She was surprised as she was only two and a half years older than her but didn’t complain. Clarke didn’t think she could have walked if she tried. She couldn’t stop thinking about what memories this brought back for her. 

“Let’s go find nomun and nontu, huh?” Marcy asked whispering into her ear. The blonde only nodded against her sister’s shoulder in reply.

They made their way through the village towards their hut. Thankfully it was not anywhere near the fires, but Clarke had a very bad feeling. 

Marcy decided going through the back door would be easiest with carrying Clarke because it was the lighter of the two doors. She entered the room and set Clarke down in one of the chairs. 

“Stay here, okay?” the brunette asked and once again got a nod in reply. “I am going to go look for nomun. She isn’t here from what I can tell. Do not leave okay?”

Another nod from Clarke and she was out the door. 

The blonde curled up into a ball on the chair and closed her eyes. She couldn’t stop thinking about what happened to her when she was little. She had a bad feeling that something was about to happen and she began to cry. Clarke didn’t want to loose her family again. She had already been through it once and that is more than enough for a person. If she had to go through it twice, Clarke didn’t think she could survive. 

Clarke heard the door open but didn’t look up. She assumed it was Marcy and that her sister was going to tell her that their parents were gone. She began to cry harder and it soon turned to sobbing.

Suddenly, she felt a cold hand grab the top of her head and pull on her hair. She was forced to look up at the most terrifying face she had laid eyes on. There was something about the face that seemed very familiar to her but she could not place it. She woman smiled and it sent chills down Clarke’s back. 

“Step away from her,” came her nontu’s voice from behind the woman.

“You have hidden the most useful weapon from me brother. I can not let you get away with that,” the woman spat out.

“Nia, step away from her. This is your last warning.”

Nia! This was the haiplana and Roan’s mother. She had heard stories of the woman and how cruel she was, but did not know why she was here. Then she realized what the queen had called her nontu. Brother?! What was happening?

“I cannot do that Penn. I need her. With her help, I can destroy the Trikru!” Nia’s voice was bone chilling.

Nia pulled Clarke to her feet and started to walk towards the door. 

“Get out of the way Penn, now,” Nia ordered.

“You maybe the queen, but I am still your older brother. Don’t do this. Leave my family alone. Please, Nia,” Penn began to beg.

“MOVE!” Nia shouted and Clarke went to cover her ears. She began to cry more and was so scared. This entire situation was all too familiar to her. The hand dragging her out of her home, the cruel person taking her away. Her nontu trying to stop it from happening. She couldn’t take it. 

Penn didn’t even flinch. He stood in the haiplana’s way and said, “If you want my daughter, you will have to go through me.”

“Very well, you leave me no choice then,” Nia pulled a knife from her belt and stabbed Penn in the stomach. 

“NOOOOOOOO! NONTU! NONTU!” Clarke began shouting hysterically and could barely breath. She was sobbing and fighting against the grip of the haiplana holding on her collar. She tried reaching out for him but Nia kept a strong hold on her.

“Don’t worry Clarke. You will be alright. Stay strong strik goufa. I love you. Tell nomun and Marcy I love them too,” at that moment Nia began to drag Clarke away from the house a towards a group of soldiers. 

 

———————

 

Marcy couldn’t find her nomun anywhere and decided that she would just wait at home for her parents. She needed to check on her sister and make sure she was alright. 

As she approached the front door something felt off. She rushed into the house and to the back room. She didn’t find Clarke on the chair, however, what she did find was her nontu lying by the back door in a pool of blood.

“Nontu!” she shouted running towards him, “Nontu, nontu! Wake up!”

Slowly his eyes began to flutter open and a small gasp came from his lips.

“Nontu, can you hear me?!” She said frantically.

“...Clarke…” was whispered from his lips but not loud enough for her to hear.

“What?! Nontu, who did this?!” She was growing hysterical and didn’t know what to do.

“Clarke…” he said a bit louder this time.

“What where is she?! Nontu!?!” Marcy began to shake Penn nearing answers.

“You have to find Clarke…” he said growing limp.

“Where is Clarke!?! Nontu!?! Who took Clarke!?! NONTU!?!” she started to bawl and shake her nontu. She wanted him to hold her and tell her everything was alright. But he could not do that and Marcy knew. She would never get to speak with her nontu again.

 

———————

 

Clarke didn’t know how long they had been riding. She just knew that it had been a while and further north. The air was growing colder and she could no longer feel her toes. The tear tracks had frozen due to the temperatures.

She had no idea where she was not only because she had barely ever left the village but also due to the sack over her head.

She was scared, confused, worried, and alone. The blonde had just found out that her nontu was the older brother of the haiplana, which would then make Nia her aunt. She had then seen said aunt kill her nontu right in front of her. The queen had proceeded to rip her away from her home and throw a bag over her head and ride away. The 11 year old was just overwhelmed with it all. What was happening?!

There was a thud to her left and then the horse halted. She could feel the haiplana behind her grow stiff. There was another thud to the right. 

“Fins the shooter! Now!” Nia yelled. Clarke had realized that there was probably an archer taking out Nia’s men. That would mean she only had four left if there were two thuds. 

She heard another thud and then a sword being unsheathed. There was a clang of metal then the sound of bone cracking and another thud. _‘Four down’_ she thought. Clarke felt Nia dismount the horse behind her. She was relieved but also uncertain about what that meant. 

There was another thud. _‘Five,’_ she thought. 

Then suddenly there was someone pulling her down from the horse and throwing her onto another one. Clarke’s heart began to race. 

_‘What is happening!?!’_

The horse started to move at such fast a pace Clarke didn’t think she could breathe. The blonde heard Nia shouting behind her in the distance but couldn’t understand what she was saying in that moment.

Clarke rode with the unknown rider behind her for what felt like hours. It grew warmer the further they went so she figured they were heading back south. The rider hadn’t spoken one word since taking her so she had know idea who she was with. 

Clarke, exhausted from the hunting trip and the day in general soon fell asleep.

 

———————

 

The blonde awoke a few hours later. Clarke could feel that she was no longer on the horse but on stone. She began to open her bright blue eyes but was met with darkness and a small amount of light from a dying fire.

_‘I am in a cave,’_ she thought to herself.

“Clarke. Good, you are awake,” came a voice. She knew that voice. It was Roan’s.

“What is happening Roan? Where am I? Why did the haiplana try to take me? Is my nontu dead? Is Nia my aunt? Where is Marcy and my nomun? Are they dead too? What’s happening?” Clarke began firing off questions left and right. 

“You are in a cave by the Trikru border. My mother wants to take your power. Those who fall from the sky are sacred to us born on the ground Clarke. They are said to be filled with power. My mother wants to take your power. We are going to Polis. You will be safe there. Yes, my mother is technically your aunt. Your nontu was her older brother. He did not want the throne and so my mother got it instead. He never told anyone of his background in the Billings. The only people who knew were me and your nomun. Your nomun and sis are safe. I have a trusted friend bringing them to meet us in Polis. Does that answer all of your questions?” Roan said.

“No… what about nontu?” already knowing the answer.

“I am sorry Clarke. When I got there he was already gone,” her fos stayed with a sad expression crossing his face. 

Blue eyes began to water and she was engulfed in a hug by the prince.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading


	7. Chapter 7

They arrived in Polis before the sun began to rise. Clarke was asleep leaning against Roan who was in the saddle behind her. The guards at the gate made them stop and would not open the gate until all their weapons were turned in. Polis was a city of peace between the clans so the only ones allowed to have weapons with in the city’s gates were Heda and the Polis gona alone. All training grounds were located outside the borders even.

Roan dismounted and gave his over. He slowly began to take Clarke’s off of her as well while trying not to wake her. He kept the knife braided into her hair still hidden though.

After making sure they had not kept any weapons from them, the guards opened the gate and let them pass.

“Wake up seken,” Roan leaned down to whisper in the child’s ear in front of him.

Clarke slowly began to wake up and take in her surroundings. 

The city had yet to wake up yet. There was only a few people walking around setting up their stalls at the market or on their way to deliver the days goods. Even with the city asleep there was a longer smell of food in the air, Clarke loved it. It was tangy and sweet with some spice all at the same time. There were rows and rows of huts in the far corner of the city from what she could see down the aisles of market stalls that lined the way to the center of the city. At the center stool the tower of which Clarke knew the commander resided in. It was massive. Larger than any structure Clarke had ever seen. She could barely understand how a two story home existed let alone this tower. The city as a whole provided a sense of disbelief to the girl. 

Roan watched as blue eyes took in the city for the first time. He loved seeing the astonishment and wonder and pure joy in the little girl’s eyes.

“Amazing, isn’t it?” he asked.

Clarke was a loss for words and could only nod. 

“We are going to see your nomun and sis now. They should have arrived yesterday,” Roan began to explain.

“Really?!” that woke the blonde up.

“Yes, they are in a temporary hut for now,” he said while directing the horse to turn.

They rode down the path a bit further until they reached the stables. 

“Okay, we have to get down now Clarke. Maximus has to stay on the stables,” Roan explained.

Clarke easily got off the horse and started to walk alongside her fos.

“Where is my sis and nomun?!” she asked excited to see them both but sad because she knew her nontu would not be with them.

“They are a little ways this way,” he said moving out of the stables and walking in the direction of the huts Clarke saw earlier.

They made their way through the city. They past through the market, that had many more people than when they first entered, and reached the huts. There were a few people exciting their homes or flickering lights in the windows to provide light in the dark of the early morning. 

The reached the end of the row and Roan stepped up to the door of the end hut. He knocked. The door opened a crack but Clarke could not see in. Suddenly it swung open and revealed a huge, hulking man standing in the entrance. The man was pushed aside and Eri wrapped her younger daughter in a hug.

“Nomun!” Clarke said as she hugged her back.

“Okay, come on. Inside. We can continue this reunion in here and away from prying eyes,” the man who has yet to introduce himself said.

They four of them made their way into the hut and the door was latched shut. Surprisingly the hut was very large compared to what the appearance on the outside said. There were a few candles lit that provided the room with light.

Roan headed towards the kitchen to presumably get some food and the large man followed him there. It left Clarke alone in the room with her nomun.

“Oh, Clarke. I’m so glad you are okay,” Eri said never letting go of the blonde and placing a small kiss to her head.

“I love you mom,” Clarke whispered in the older woman’s ear.

“I love you too goufa,” she responded and emphasized with another kiss this time to her cheek.

They held each other for a little while uninterrupted and just basked in the other’s comforting presence. 

The seemed to be some sounds from the back rooms and then a sleepy voice asking, “Mom, why is there so much talking?”

Clarke wiggled out of her mother‘s grip and saw Marcy standing in the doorway rubbing her eyes. She decided to sneak up past her older sister and pop up behind her. 

Marcy opened her eyes and saw her mother facing her direction with a grin on her face. 

“Why are you smiling like that nomun?” cocking her head to the side in question.

“No reason,” said Eri calmly. 

Just then two hands grabbed her sides and started tickling.

“Ahhhh,” she jumped and spun around. When Marcy saw her little sister behind her she pounded on the younger girl. “Clarke! You are here!”

“Yes, sis. I am here!” Clarke said. The two girls hugged each other until neither could breathe properly.

“Okay you two. Let’s have some breakfast. Shall we?” Eri placed a hand on both her daughters’ shoulders and led them towards the kitchen.

They entered the kitchen and Clarke was introduced to the large man who had opened the door. His name was Gustus. He apparently worked as a guard in the tower. Roan’s friend had brought Eri and Marcy to Polis and brought them to Gustus’s hut, which is where they were now. He was a very nice man even though he had a threatening appearance. 

“We have to talk about what will happen from here on,” Roan said to everyone.

“Yes, we must keep Clarke safe from…” Eri began trailing off at the end.

“Safe from who mom?” Marcy asked. She had not yet been filled in on what happened.

No one answered the brunettes question. It was only when Marcy asked a second time that she found out what was truly happening.

“From your aunt,” Gustus replied.

“But… I don’t have an aunt. Nomun and nontu don’t, didn’t, have any family,” she said correcting herself now that her nontu was gone.

“Yes you do,” Eri finally spoke.

“Who?” Marcy was completely confused now.

“Haiplana Nia,” Clarke said.

“Clarke, how do you know that?!?!” Eri asked worriedly.

“I told her,” Roan stepped in, “She deserved to know. They both do.”

“That wasn’t your decision Roan!” the woman practically yelled.

“Clarke was kidnapped because of that secret and the one you kept from her since she came to earth. How could you never tell her the kind of danger she was in!?” Roan was very concerned from his seken. He was like a sister to him.

“She was six! Would you have told a six year old that!?” Eri was beyond annoyed now.

Roan responded with just as much anger in his voice, “She is no longer six, though, is she?!”

“It is still not your decision to make! She may be your seken, but she is my daughter!” Eri was now screaming.

There was a small whimper to the side and both adults freezed. They turned towards the noise and saw. Clarke crying trying to hold her sobs in. Clarke never liked to be the cause of any type of argument and never liked hearing them either. 

“Marcy, could you please take your sister into another room? I will be there in a moment,” the woman asked politely. Marcy did as she was told while whisper soft reassuring words into the blonde’s ear to make sure she was okay.

“You know exactly why Penn and I never told the girls if there relation to Nia. So don’t you dare question my decisions based on that. As for Clarke, Penn thought it best to wait to tell her about everything. We didn’t think that anyone else knew. We thought we had a few more years. We were going to tell her on her next birthday. I have to go make sure Clarke is okay. So please, just hold your criticisms for later,” and with that she headed after the two young girls.

Eri entered the room to find Marcy holding Clarke close to her while laying on the bed. It looked as though Clarke’s face was buried in her sister’s neck and their mother could hear the blonde’s sniffles. She made her way over to the bed and sat down. The older woman reached out and curled herself around Clarke and Marcy.

“Clarke? Sweetheart, are you alright? I didn’t mean to scare you. Please forgive me.”

The blonde turned around in the sandwich her mother and sister had made of her and faced Eri. She latched onto her mother’s neck and didn’t let go for a while. The three girls stayed like that until Clarke broke the silence that filled the room.

“I miss nontu,” was all she said.

“I know goufa, I know. So do I, Eri said squeezing Marcy’s hand as she felt the girl squeeze a bit at the comment. She also placed a kiss on the crown of Clarke’s head. “But her wouldn’t want us to be sad. Nontu always said that we should celebrate the life of the lost soul. Remember? He would quote that saying about not crying because it is over but smiling because it happened. We have to leave him to the spirit with good memories not sad ones.”

They three of them stayed silent after those words. Penn was a very happy person even if he only ever showed that side to just his family and close friends. They mourned his death but also thought of all the good he had done and joy he had brought to their lives while they laid there. Sometime they would talk and share a happy memory with Penn, other times that would keep it to themselves and save for later. When one cried the others comforted them. When one laughed the other two joined in. The family was missing a member but the wound of that loss was beginning to heal.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So in the next chapter the future of the characters and where they are headed will be set. Well some of them at least.
> 
> And... I guess just tell me what you think! Thanks for reading. Hope you liked it! :)


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well here we are. Clarke’s future is about to be determined in weather she stays in Polis or not. And who will stay or go with her?
> 
> I hope you like it!

It had been a day since Clarke arrived in Polis. She did not know what the plan for the future was, only that Eri and Roan were currently discussing it in the other room so that Marcy and Clarke could not hear. 

Clarke wanted to go back home but at the same time did not. If they went back home, it would not be how it was. Penn would not be there and Clarke thinks that would make the loss of her nontu feel greater. She also thinks that she would be scared to go back. The blonde has had nightmares every night since Nia took her and would wake up screaming most nights. There was always someone there to comfort her but the incident had scared her already beaten heart. Clarke had lived through so much in her short life and it all seemed like too much at the moment for her.

As Clarke was thinking while laying on the bed in the room her and Marcy were sharing, Eri stepped into the room.

“Girls, can you please come out here? I want to discuss something with you.”

Both Marcy and Clarke got off of their respective beds and headed out to the living area. They sat down on the couch and Eri sat in a chair in front of them. Gus was standing off to the side and Roan was sitting in a chair further back.

“I want to talk about what your futures are going to be like and what being Nia’s nieces means. We also need to discuss Clarke’s safety. Okay?” Eri started.

“Yes,” both sisters replied in unison.

“Okay. I think we should start with what got us here, Nia. As we discussed yesterday she is your aunt. Obviously that makes Roan your cousin, but that is besides the point,” Eri said waving her hand to the side. Roan made a fake hurt and surprised expression on his face at this comment that made both Marcy and Clarke giggle.

“Aunt Eri! I am hurt!” Roan said jokingly. This made the sisters laugh harder and Roan broke out into a smile.

“Yes, yes. You can have your fun later, but this is serious. Now, your father was technically in line to the throne. Nia was his younger sister and was the ‘spare heir’ you could say. But, he never wanted the throne, so he fled the palace. This was seen as weakness and so his father, your grandfather, sent guards out to search for him in order to punish him. I met your father long before this and had run away with him. For a while we stayed in Delphi Kru lands and we avoided the guards. When we were bonded, we moved to the village you two grew up in. It went smoothly and we avoided suspicion for a while. Then Clarke came into our lives and it got a bit more complicated. When Roan came to the village he remembered your father from when he was little, but said he would not tell his mother. When Nia came to the village, I don’t think she knew that nontu was related to you Clarke. I think she only figured it out when she came into our hut before you two got back from the hunting trip. Nia now knowing about you two now puts you at great risk. She will see you as a threat to her reign,” Eri explained.

“Why did Nia want Clarke in the first place though?” Marcy asked. No one had fully explained the situation to her yet.

“Marcy do you know the story of the first commander? Of Bekka Pramheda?” Eri asked.

“Yes, she fell from the sky to save us all right?” the teenager answered not knowing for certain.

“Not exactly,” Gus said stepping in. He knew this story better than anyone in the room being that he was the only Trikru. “Bekka Pramheda did come from the sky, but she came in a pod. Your nomun described the one that you came down here in Clarke and they sound very similar. She came here to save and lead us. Heda Bekka led our people out of a dark time. It was the only time every clan was at peace. The nightbloods and her are treated as sacred because they have fallen from the sky. Because of this a ledge down had arisen. Those who fall from the sky will not only be treated as sacred like Bekka Pramheda and the nightbloods, but as a weapon of peace. It is said that the next one to fall from the sky, that being you Clarke, will bring peace to these lands once again while also giving the person who commands them full rule over said lands. Nia wants the position you supposedly poses.”

“But I don’t have any position,” Clarke argued.

“You may not, but the mere speculation that you do is all my mother needs to act,” Roan stepped into the conversation again. “She is a cruel woman that will do anything for power.”

“Okay is what does all this mean for our future and Clarke’s safety?” Marcy asked.

“Well I have been thinking about that and discussing it with both Roan and Gus and we think we have come up with a solution,” Eri said.

“What solution?” Clarke was curious to know what was to happen.

“Well since you have come from the sky just like Heda Bekka did, I have asked Heda if you can stay with the nightbloods. Even though you do not have the sacred blood, your origins are still sacred. Polis is the safest place in all the clans and the tower is the safest place in Polis. It will work perfectly for keeping you safe and out of Nia’s grasp. Heda Trux has already agreed with the idea,” Gus explained.

“But what about Marcy and nomun? Where will they be?” Clarke asked. She wanted to be near her sister and mother. 

“Marcy will be here with Gus. Apparently many of the nightbloods families live right by Gus’s hut and see the nightbloods twice a week, so Marcy won’t be too far. Don’t worry goufa,” Eri said.

“But what about you nomun?” Marcy asked noticing Eri never brought up herself in the situation.

“I will not be in Polis,” she said sadly.

“What do you mean? Why can’t you stay in Polis?” Clarke was growing flustered. She had just lost her nontu, she didn’t want to be separated from her nomun.

“I could stay in Polis, that is not the issue. I have to go with Roan and we have to come up with a plan to take Nia down. She is a danger to not only you two but Azgeda as a whole. She has been for a while, it is just now that I have decided enough is enough. I will be back to visit regularly, but until everything is taken care of I cannot stay here. I am sorry goufas,” Eri said seriously and with determination set on her face.

“It is okay nomun. We understand,” Marcy replied for them both. And they did, they understood what their mother was doing and why.

“When do you leave then?” asked Clarke.

“Not for a week. So don’t worry, we will have some fun and explore Polis while I am here. Does that sound good?” Eri asked. Both girls had never been to Polis before this, they had barely even traveled much outside of their village, so they excitedly nodded their heads.

They three of them spent the whole week together. Eri, having been to Polis before a few times, showed her daughters the market and a few other cool areas the city had to offer. Gus led the three into the tower during the week and showed them where Clarke would be staying. The nightbloods were out training so they didn’t meet any of them, but the blonde still liked that she got to see where she would be staying beforehand. 

When the time came for Eri and Roan to leave it was a bit emotional. There were tear spread on all sides but they got through it. 

Clarke only had one week left until her twelfth birthday. She wishes her nomun would be here for it, but knew she couldn’t be. After her birthday she would be moving in with the nightbloods. Clarke was both excited and nervous.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so I’m the next chapter we are going back up to the Ark to see how things are going there, yay!
> 
> I really hope you liked the chapter and tell me what you think


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you like it!

“Today is Xavier’s 12th birthday,” his teacher said. “So let’s all sing happy birthday shall we?”

As the class began to sing happy birthday, Xavier tuned out. He hated his birthday. It was the second worst day of every year. The first being the day Clarke was taken from their cabin.

Today marks the fifth birthday that Xavier has spent without his sister. 

“Happy birthday to Xavier! Happy birthday t-” the class is cut off by a chair in the back scraping across the floor. They all turn around and see Xavier standing with tears in his eyes, turning around and storming out of the classroom.

“Xavier!” he could hear his teacher yelling behind him. Xavier kept walking, eventually ending up sprinting all the way back to the Griffin family cabin. He scans his wrist band and the door unlocked. He entered and collapsed to the ground with his back against the wall next to the door.

Xavier finally lets the tears escape his eyes. He slowly began to sob letting it all out.

There was only one thing running through his head, _‘It’s not my birthday. It’s Clarke’s and my birthday! Clarke’s!’_ He repeated that in his head over and over again. 

Jake came in sometime later, Abby followed a few minutes behind him. Xavier couldn’t tell you how many minutes had passed between him running out of class and his parents walking in or the amount of time it took for them to calm him down after. 

“Hey buddy,” Jake said after Xavier had stopped sobbing, “Wanna tell me what’s wrong?”

Xavier shook his head and so Jake backed off. Abby took over after that.

“Your teacher said that you stormed out of class while they were singing ‘Happy Birthday’. Did that have something to do with it?” his mother asked.

This time Xavier nodded his head. 

“Does this have to do with Clarke?” she asked tentatively. 

The girl was a sore subject for the whole family. Everyone on the Ark knew about Clarke’s existence after Jaya sent her to earth, but no one ever acknowledged it or even brought it up in conversation. Most people didn’t even know Clarke’s name. Abby and Jake were devastated by the loss of their younger child. Because of that, they vowed to help anyone else they could on the Ark. In that process, they found out that the child that had died who was a second child was actually the third one born on the Ark in the current generation. The second one, whom Dr. Drake had talked to them about, was actually still alive and in hiding. Abby would go and give the girl check ups once a month just to make sure she was okay. 

Xavier had taken the loss of his twin even worse. At the time, being only six, he didn’t fully understand what had happened. As the years past Xavier slowly began to realize his sister was coming back and that she was most likely dead. He never talked to his parents about it, or asked for clarification. Xavier thought it would be all too real if they told his what he was already thinking. The knowledge that his sister was gone destroyed him. He was already a very shy kid but Xavier began to close himself off more. Xavier didn’t have any friends because of this and that just made him more closed off. He was never bullied or teased and kids didn’t not like him. Xavier just avoided them and all the other kids respected his space. Abby and Jake hated to see their son close himself off from the world, but didn’t want to push him to hard to make friends. 

Xavier had taken a few minutes to respond to the question but he gave a quiet, “yes” in reply. It was so quiet that both Abby and Jake almost missed it. 

“What did it have to do with Clarke?” Abby asked. Somehow she was always the one to get her son to come out of his shell. 

“They said it was my birthday. But it’s mine and Clarke’s,” he said, “I miss her.”

“I know sweetie, I miss Clarke too,” Abby said wrapping Xavier in a hug as he began to cry again.

“She’s not coming back is she?” Xavier asked. Both Jake and Abby were taken aback by the question. Xavier had never once asked about where Clarke went after the day in front of the council. 

“No, she’s not buddy,” Jake said sadly when Abby didn’t respond because of the sob she was holding in.

“I wish she was here. Why did the Chancellor have to float her?” Xavier was balling at this point though his words were so quiet.

“Because he is an evil man. But he will get what he deserves,” Jake said, his words filled with hate. Jake vowed to help remove Jaha from power, and destroy the dictatorship he created on the Ark, at all costs. There were plans in the works but still years away from completion.

“Clarke may not be here sitting next to us Xavier, but she is right in here,” Jake told his son pointing at the boy’s heart. “And she is here and here too.” He finished by pointing at his own and Abby’s hearts as well.

“As long as we love her and don’t forget her, she will always be with us. Clarke is looking out for you, me and dad right now I bet you,” Abby said.

“I would never forget Clarke! She’s my sister!” Xavier said somewhat offended at the implication.

“I know buddy, I know,” Abby said.

The family sat there for a little bit in silence. Jake was the first to get up and walk towards the kitchen. 

“Well I don’t know about you two, but it’s lunch time and I’m starving,” he said.

“Can you make me something please?” Abby asked her husband. 

“Sure. Xavier, you want anything?” Jake questioned his son.

Xavier simply shook his head in reply. “I’m going to my room,” was all he said. Both parents knew not to push the young boy so they just let him be.

Abby soon made her way into the kitchen and joined Jake at the counter. They sat in silence while they ate. 

“Is there any chance she could be alive down there?” Abby asked quietly breaking the silence that had fallen between the couple.

“The pod was sound and secure. If she was strapped in properly and they followed protocol for the release of the pod, statistically speaking she should have survived the landing. I got my hands on a report about a month after the pod was released that said the parachutes did deploy at the proper time. So the chances that she survived the fall were high. The report also said that Clarke’s pod landed in an area that was frozen over at the time. If that was the case, many things could have happened. If the pod landed on solid ice chances are it could have cracked the hull. If it landed in a bank of snow however the landing would have been smooth, just the snow would have buried it. And then there are all the inbetweens. You also have to take into account radiation which is your area of expertise. But, for the most part of it yes she could have survived the fall,” Jake said.

“Jake you have told me the same thing over and over again. I just want to know if you think she is still down there, waiting for us?” Abby asked both mad at her husband for the same spiel he always gave when she asked and sad at what the many horrible outcomes for her daughter could have been.

“Realistically, no. I don’t think that Clarke would survive the radiation the Earth still has from the bombs. Even if the radiation didn’t kill her, starvation or something else would have. I hope and pray to every entity of gods out there that she is alive and okay, but it gets harder to keep a positive mind,” Jake replied.

“She’s out there Jake. I can feel it,” Abby said after taking in the man’s words. 

Little did either of them know was that Xavier was listening from his bedroom the entire time. The words both his parents said about hoping and knowing that Clarke was still out there on earth gave him a new hope. 

Xavier vowed then that he would be reunited with his twin again. Later that night, when he blew out his birthday candle he wished to see Clarke again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed. We will be going back to the ground next chapter. Clarke is going to meet the nightbloods! But not all of them quite yet


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Italics are Azgedasleng and normal is gonasleng in this chapter.

Clarke was very excited for today. She was moving in with the nightbloods and finally getting to train with them. Apparently Azgeda has never had a nightblood, even though Clarke isn’t a nightblood, so she will be the first to train with the nightbloods.

The blonde is also a bit sad. She had just lost her father and her mother left to essentially go kill the woman responsible. Now Clarke was having to move away from the only family she had left, her sister. Even though she would see Marcy every week and live right by her it wouldn’t be the same. Clarke would no longer live across the hall from her, or go outside to get some extra training in with the older girl, they would no longer eat meals together, they couldn’t go across the hall whenever they needed help with something. It was all going to be different and Clarke didn’t want it to be.

_“Clarke, come on we need to go,”_ Gus came in and told her.

_“One minute. I have to grab may last few things,”_ Clarke said. She didn’t have a lot as most of her stuff was left at their old hut, but Marcy and Eri had brought a few things from Clarke.

Pretty soon Clarke, Gus, and Marcy were heading out of the house and towards the tower. As they approached the entrance the guards stepped aside for Gus and they were waved in. The inside of the tower was just as magnificent as the outside. There was a large staircase that seem to go on forever, however they did not go towards it. Clarke just assumed that meant they were staying on this level. 

They reached a hallway that led to a small room. The doors to the room slid closed and the room started to shake.

_“What’s happening?!”_ Clarke practically screamed and clung to Gus. Marcy doing pretty much the same thing but without screaming.

_“It’s okay girls. It’s called an elevator. It is bringing us up the floors without having to walk all the stairs,”_ Gus explained.

_“Wow! Really?”_ Marcy asked.

_“How does that work?”_ Clarke asked, ever the curious one.

_“There is a pulley system of ropes and when the men down stairs turn the wheel one direction it goes up and the other direction then goes down,”_ he explained.

_“Okay, cool,”_ the youngest of the three said.

They reached the floor and Gus opened the door. Immediately guards were in front of them blocking their way. When they realized who Gus was, the head guard of the tower, and stepped aside.

Gus then led them down a long hallway and stopped in front of a set of large double doors. 

Before he opened them he turned to Clarke and said, _“This is where you will be living now. The nightbloods all live here together. Sometimes they go off and train for extended periods of time in other places with their Fos, but mostly they are here. You may not meet all of them today because of that. Another thing is language, even though you don’t speak Trigedasleng, all of them know both Azgedasleng and gonasleng. You will learn the language of the tree people, which is spoken by most clans, as well as the language some of the southernmost clans sometimes use, ‘Spanol’. All the nightbloods learn the languages of all the lands and are fluent, you will be too as well. You will train with the nightbloods at times, but at other times you will not as I see fit. Roan has trusted me to being your new Fos, are you okay with that?”_

_“Yes, that is fine,”_ Clarke responded almost immediately.

_“Okay. The nightbloods also learn lessons with the fleimkepa. You will attend these in order to learn of all the clans. The nightbloods are currently out training, they will be back shortly and you will meet them then,”_ Gus said.

_“Okay.”_

_“There is one other thing I must warn you of Clarke,”_ Gus said getting down on his knee to be eye level with the young girl, _“Many of the nightbloods detest Azgeda. They hate Nia and all she had done. Many have lost their parents to the wars she has started or by her very own hands. You must always watch you back, promise me.”_

_“I will watch my back Gus,”_ Clarke promised.

_“One last thing. Do not tell anyone of your relation to Nia. If they find out you are her niece, you could very well wind up dead in the next day,”_ he said getting back up and turning around. Clarke just nodded.

Gus then opened the doors to the room. It revealed a long room with five beds along each wall. There was a large amount of space that seemed to separate each bed and give, presumably, those who slept there their own space and privacy.

_“The one in the far corner on the right hand side is yours. That is the only one open. I will be waiting outside for you Marcy. We have to leave before the nightbloods get back,”_ Gus said exiting and leaving the sisters alone for sometime.

Marcy and Clarke sat in silence for a little while. Thy unpacked the few things Clarke had and set them in the chest at the foot of her bed. Clarke also had a desk and chair next to the bed, which seemed to be standard for every bed in the room.

_“I don’t want you to leave me here alone,”_ the younger of the two whispered.

_“Clarke, it is okay. We get to see each other at least three times a week. It won’t be how things used to be, but it will be okay. I promise,”_ Marcy said wrapping her little sister in a protective hug. Clarke clung to her until there was a knock on the door and Gus’s voice saying that they had to leave.

_“I love you sis,”_ Marcy whispered.

_“I love you too sis,”_ Clarke whispered as well.

With that they separated, Gus and Marcy then left Clarke all alone in the room.

 

______________

 

About ten minutes after Gus and Marcy had left, Clarke heard the door open. She turned around on the bed and saw a group of children staring back at her.

The first of the group, a small boy with dark curly hair stepped forward and began to walk towards Clarke. A tall girl with similar dark curly hair reached out and stopped him tough.

“Aries, stop,” the girl demanded. “She is Azgeda. She isn’t to be trusted.” The girl spoke with disgust in gonasleng, Clarke presumed it was specifically so that she could understand. It was weird to hear the language she once only knew how to speak, no one had spoken in gonasleng with her around for quite some time.

Clarke just turned back around and curled up. Gus had told her that they hated Azgeda, specifically Nia, but she didn’t think they would outright hate her just because she was. 

“Why does it matter?” another voice came from behind the entire group. “They are people too right?”

“It matters, Knox, because they slaughter all the other clans just because they are ordered to by their Queen” the girl with curly hair sneered the last word.

“It’s blind loyalty to someone who is a monster and they can’t even see it,” another voice said. 

“That’s not true,” Clarke said speaking up for the first time.

“What’s not true?” the little boy from before, Aries, asked because everyone else was just baffled that the girl had spoken.

“That we just follow her blindly. That we don’t see her as a monster,” Clarke said, “Nia has done horrible things and deserves only death.”

“What could she have possibly done to you that was worse than killing some of our own parents in war?” the curly haired girl spoke.

“She killed my father right in front of me. Then took me from my home,” she said it quietly not wanting to truly acknowledge that Penn was killed before her very eyes.

“Why would she kill your father, huh? You may have fallen from the sky but you are not that special skayon,” said the girl.

Clarke knew she had promised Gus to not tell them of her relation to the Ice Queen. She wanted to say there was a reason but knew that it would put her own life in danger. The blonde remained quiet.

“See. You probably are lying. Azgeda are a bunch of liars and you are no different.” With that the girl moved towards a bed in the opposite far corner of the room.

“Aries, come here,” she said after sitting down at her desk.

“Yes, Luna,” he responded.

As the rest of the nightbloods filtered in, Clarke determined that the tall and curly haired girl, Luna, was the oldest and most likely the leader. It looked like the little boy, Aries, was her younger brother.

Clarke noticed that there were six other nightbloods besides the presumed siblings. The bed directly next to her lay empty.

Everyone seemed to either ignore Clarke or look at her with anger and distaste. Some spoke in Trigedasleng. Clarke at least though it was because it sounded closer to Azgedasleng than the language some of the other kids were speaking, which she presumed was the language Gus had told her about.

No one made a move to go near her. Clarke didn’t make any attempts to go near any of them either. 

Clarke fell asleep that night with tear stained cheeks. She had silently cried herself to sleep over various things. He nontu was dead, her nomun was gone and so was her fos, and her sis was halfway across the city. Clarke was also crying because of how much the other kids hated her and they didn’t even know her. She may all been trained as a warrior since the age of six, but that didn’t mean that Clarke could handle bullying better than most.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you liked it!


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so this is a bit shorter than most chapters but it sets up the next few chapters. 
> 
> Also, anything spoken is Trigedasleng
> 
> Enjoy :)

It has been a little over two months since Clarke moved in with the nightbloods. She has become almost completely fluent in Trigedasleng in that time, and is still learning Spanol. She had become a more well rounded fighter and learned much about the other clans. 

Clarke is still being ignored by the nightbloods. Most of them now speak in Spanol while she is around so that she is unable to understand what they are saying. When they aren’t ignoring her, they usually only acknowledge their dislike of her.

This only drove Clarke to work harder, to be better, to earn their respect.

Clarke fought hard everyday and many were impressed with her strength, ability, and natural skill. None of the nightbloods said anything though, Luna made sure of that. When Clarke was sparing with another nightblood, most of the time it was Luna since she was the closest in age, it was fair. That was until Archer, the fleimkepa, turned his attention elsewhere. Luna made cheap shots to take Clarke out and injure her. Clarke was fast enough to dodge or stop the attack most of the time but sometimes she wasn’t.

That is what happened yesterday when they were using staffs and Luna had Clarke pinned to the ground with the staff at the blonde’s neck. Since Archer wasn’t looking, Mina decided to slash at Clarke’s wrist. The impact was strong and hard and Clarke curled up into a ball at the pain. 

Archer noticed that Clarke had moved into the fetal position and went over to her. 

“Clarke are you alright?” he asked.

Blue eyes with tears threatening to spill turned towards him.

“It’s my wrist. I tripped while trying to get up and landed on it,” the blonde lied. 

“Go to the healer’s hut. Nyko will take a look at it,” Archer said.

With that the blonde got up and headed down the hill towards the city. The healer’s hut was right next to the tower. Clarke made her way through the crowded streets and into the hut. Having already had been there a few times in the last two months Clarke was comfortable in the building and knew where to go. She sat down at an empty bed and waited for Nyko to be done with the patient he was currently working on.

“Hei Clarke,” Nyko greeted.

“Hei,” she said quietly.

“What seems to be the matter today?” he asked.

Clarke knew it would be pointless to lie as Nyko could easily determine her story was false but she still tried, “I tripped while sparring.”

“Ahhh, I see. Someone hit you with a…” he paused while he looked at the wrist determining what could have caused the injury while also figuring out a course of treatment, “Staff? While Archer wasn’t looking I presume?”

Clarke nodded as an answer to both questions.

“Who was it Clarke?” Nyko asked tentatively. He was the only one who knew of the bullying Clarke was receiving and wanted to help and put a stop to it but Clarke would never tell him who is was.

Clarke shrugged in response. That was the usual answer and Nyko knew that he could not push the girl.

“Okay. All wrapped up. You will have to rest this arm for about a week. It is not broken thankfully, but it needs plenty of rest,”

“Thank you Nyko,” Clarke said getting up.

She headed out of the hut and towards the entrance to the tower. Clarke made her way up to the nightbloods’ room and walked to her bed. Clarke did not feel like acting tonight.

When the nightbloods came in later that night after dinner they ignored Clarke per usual.

 

______________

 

When Clarke awoke the next morning something was different. She turns around to look around the room. Everyone is still asleep as it isn’t even morning and the sun hasn’t even begun to peak from the horizon. 

Everything seems normal. 

That is until Clarke notices there is someone new in the room. A girl with what appears to be brown hair sits at the desk next to hers with a candle providing a small amount of light. She seems to be writing in a journal of some sort. Clarke can’t see anything very well because the only light in the room is coming from the candle that is lit on the girl’s desk. _‘That must be the other nightblood. The one Archer explained was with her fos,’_ Clarke thought.

Clarke moved to lie down again. The noise seemed to alert the girl that another person was awake in the room. The brunette turned towards Clarke and blue met green. 

“Who are you?” the girl asked quietly as to not disturb the others.

Clarke was stunned that a nightblood was talking to her willingly on their own free time.

“Clarke,” she finally answered after a while.

“You are a nightblood?” the brunette asked.

“No,” was all she said.

“Then why are you here? How are you in this room?” the girl was obviously confused.

“I was placed here for my protection,” Clarke answered simply.

“Protection from who?” the girl asked again. Clarke was somewhat annoyed with all the questions and that she didn’t know the girls name. However, she answered anyways. 

“Nia,” was all she said. Clarke realized she probably should not have said that. There would be questions to follow, she just knew it. Clarke would then give away information she had promised Gus not to. 

“What would Nia want with you?” the girl asked. Clarke knew it was coming and wasn’t prepared for it.

“My fos said that it is because I was born in the sky. That she wants to use me as a weapon to gain power.”

“That can’t be the only reason,” the girl said, pushing Clarke to explain further.

“Well it is,” Clarke said strongly.

“Why didn’t you parents just take you somewhere. Why did they drop you here?”

“Nia killed my nontu right in front of me while trying to take me and my nomun is planning to kill or dethrone Nia. That’s why,” Clarke said sadness creeping into her tone.

“I’m Lexa,” the girl said reaching out her hand. 

Clarke grabbed her forearm.

“Clarke.”

“I already knew that. How old are you by the way?” Lexa asked.

“Twelve,” Clarke stated, “You?”

“Thirteen, almost fourteen,” Lexa responded.

There was silence that fell between the two for while. Then Lexa decided to break it and ask the question that was burning inside her. Clarke expected it and was prepared for the question this time.

“So you are Azgeda then?” Lexa questioned.

“Yes,” was all Clarke said in answer to the question.

“Okay,” Lexa said not really giving a bother to the answer. “You should probably get some more rest. Archer is getting us up early tomorrow.”

And with that, Clarke went to sleep. She felt oddly hopeful for the first time in months.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Clarke will be defended in the next chapter so don’t worry, the bullying will stop and Luna will be taught a lesson. 
> 
> I hope you liked the chapter!


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so for those of you that wanted to see Luna get what’s coming to her, this isn’t the chapter. Things improve but in the next chapter some shit goes down. 
> 
> I hope you enjoy.
> 
> Also if it is plain text when there is dialogue it’s Trigedasleng, italics is Azgedasleng

It has been a week since Lexa got here. 

Clarke feels everything is strange and different since the girl’s arrival. No one has made an attempt to bully her or purposely harm her. Not even Luna. Though no one has really had the chance to harm her since Clarke hasn’t trained with the nightbloods at all because Gus took over. His duties at the tower were lighter than usual so he wanted to take the whole weak to train the seken.

Some of the nightbloods are even starting to talk to her. Clarke finds this all strange and suspicious. She hasn’t made a close friend with any of them, as they were all ignoring her before, so she has had to wait till today to tell Marcy about everything.

Marcy is the only reason Clarke thinks she has stayed sane through these past two months. Her sister keeps asking which of the nightbloods has hurt Clarke and which ones are ignoring her in order to tell Gus, but the blonde never gives anyone up. Clarke talks about the situation of her bullying but never names names. 

Also, Clarke has noticed that Lexa has seemed to become the leader of the group. Luna has stepped back and given up her ‘position’ per say. Clarke found it odd that the curly haired curly would do such a thing, that was until she saw Lexa fight. If one thought any of the other nightbloods were amazing, then Lexa was god like. She moved so fast and swiftly that you could barely keep up just watching. From the one time that she saw her fight, Clarke decided it was truly a sight to behold.

The nightbloods and Clarke all go to lunch. Afterwards they are going to see their families. This past week has been weird not just because of the fact that no one was bullying Clarke, but also that they didn’t get to see their families the past two scheduled times. Archer had taken them away, but had not explained why. 

Clarke sat at the end of the long table away from everyone else as she normally did. She began to eat when someone sat next to her. This was the first instance of this happening. Clarke looked to her left and saw that it was Lexa.

“May I sit here?” Lexa asked.

Clarke didn’t know what to say so she just nodded.

Clarke sat there studying Lexa throughout the meal. She developed this habit early on in life. Marcy used to call her out on it all the time, especially at dinner. Penn or Eri would tell Marcy to be quiet, eat her food and that Clarke was just very observant by nature and wanted to take everything around her in. The blonde didn’t really know if that was the case, she just tried to figure people out. 

Lexa hadn’t spoken to Clarke much since she got here. There were a few times when they were in the nightbloods quarters, or eating, or in lessons. Most of the time it was just little things like a greeting or tip of some sort. Other than that though, nothing. Clarke just wanted to get to the bottom of what makes this girl tick.

“You are staring,” Lexa’s voice interrupted her from her thoughts.

“It just doesn’t make sense,” Clarke said.

“What doesn’t?” The brunette asked.

“Why you are nice to me. Why everyone is no longer ignoring me. Why it all stopped so suddenly,” Clarke could have kept going. All the questions running around her head.

“Why would I ignore you or be mean?” Green eyes met blue. Clarke could see the utter confusion starting within the forest that had captured her eyes.

“Everyone else does, or did?” Clarke herself was even questioning her own statement.

“They have no right to judge you without knowing you. Neither do I,” the brunette simply stated.

“So you are the reason they stopped?” Clarke asked.

“Yes.” 

It was a simple answer and yet it still confused the younger girl to no end.

“Why?”

“You are Azgeda, correct?” Clarke nodded.

“And I am Trikru, right?” Lexa asked.

“If you say so,” was the blue eyed girl’s response.

“Yes. And why should either of those matter?” the older asked the younger and all she got was a shrug in reply. “Exactly. They shouldn’t. No matter who you are, or where you come from, or what land you grew up on, or what clan you say you are from it shouldn’t matter. If I become Heda I will bring peace to our lands. Not just the peace that some Commanders have kept before where there is no war and trade is good. A peace that unites all clans. A peace where everyone thrives and lives under one flag, one clan.”

“Wow. Those are some big goals,” Clarke says.

“They are. And they might not even happen. Whoever the commanders’ spirit chooses will bring a future to the clans. If I am that person, then I vow to bring peace,” Lexa said with the utmost authority.

They ate in silence for the rest of lunch. 

 

______________

 

_“Sis!”_ Clarke yells while running out the door and straight into Marcy’s arms.

_“Hey C,”_ Marcy greets her sister and continues to hold her tight.

The nightbloods come out of the tower and towards their respective families. Clarke lets go of Marcy and turns around. She notices that all of the nightbloods are out and with their families. All except for one. The blonde doesn’t notice Lexa anywhere; however, she doesn’t dwell on it and turns her attention back to Marcy.

_“Come on C! I have something I want to show you!”_ Marcy says grabbing the younger girl’s hand. 

The older girl leads the two of them through the streets. Weaving in and out of stalls and pathways while dodging people and carts along the way. They made there way to the city gates. The guards opened them and Marcy kept dragging Clarke.

_“Marcy, we aren’t supposed to leave the city. Nomun said so. They only time we are is during training, you know that. Come on let’s go back inside,”_ Clarke said not wanting to break the rules that her nomun had strictly set for the sisters.

_“Come on C! You break every rule you have ever been told. Just do this for me, please. It will be so much fun. I promise,”_ Marcy pleaded.

_“Fine,”_ the blonde conceded.

Marcy led them up a hill in the opposite direction of the training grounds. They reached the top and there was a perfect view of Polis. From here it looked so small and the streets filled with people looked much less cramped.

_“Wow!”_

_“I know right!?”_ Marcy said excitedly, _“I have something else to show you too. Wait here.”_

Clarke nodded so enthralled in the view of the city. The older of the two girls disappeared behind a large tree. A minute later the brunette reappeared with her arms behind her back. 

_“Clarke,”_ Marcy said gaining her little sister’s attention.

_“What’s behind your back?”_ the blonde asked.

Marcy moved her hands around to the front and held a large box up to Clarke. _“Open it,”_ she said.

Clarke reached for the box and took it from the brunette’s hands. It was a beautifully crafted wood box. It looked similar to the one that her knives came in, but the design had harder edges. Clarke opened it and found a stack of papers with some colorful sets of chalks and charcoals. Blue eyes blinked and tears slipped past the edge and cascaded down pale cheeks.

_“Marcy, this is amazing!”_ Clarke stated while her hands skimmed across the paper. There were only six people in the universe who knew of Clarke’s passion for art. Three of which were not on Earth, one who was dead, another who had left to get revenge, and lastly the person standing right in front of the blonde. 

_“It’s not a big deal. I know I didn’t get you a present for your birthday so I hope this makes up for it.”_ Marcy said while shrugging.

_“How did you get all this? I haven’t ever seen colored charcoals before! The paper is so smooth too; it is usually really rough.”_ the younger of the two sisters was in awe.

_“I traded some arrows I made for the charcoals. The paper was a bit harder to get because of the quality. I worked for a week in the papermakers stall and he gave me that stack in return. Really it’s no big deal C,”_ the brunette was trying to play it down but Clarke wouldn’t let her.

_“You are the best sister I could have asked for!”_ the blonde set the box down carefully and engulfed her big sister in a hug.

After they broke apart Clarke had one more question, _“How did you get the box?”_

_“Um… well… I kinda made it…”_ she replied sheepishly.

_“Wow, it’s so good. It looks so much like the ones nomun and nontu gifted my knives in.”_

_“I copied the design. But I also added my own flare to it. The one I made has more hard edges. I thought it represented you better.”_

The girls sat down at the edge of the hill. Clarke leaned up against a tree and Marcy laid beside her. Clarke began to draw the city below. Marcy looked up and watched the clouds pass. They talked till the sun began to set. Clarke told her sister about how the nightbloods were being nicer and Marcy was so happy that her sister wasn’t being hurt by them anymore. Marcy told Clarke of the work Gustus was putting her to. Apparently Gus was training Marcy too; and not just that but to be the head tower guard after he is finished. Clarke was so proud of her sister. 

The two of them headed back to Polis‘ gates. Marcy walked Clarke back to the tower entrance. 

_“I love you C,”_ Marcy said.

_“I love you too, sis”_ Clarke said.

With that Clarke walked into the tower and up to the nightbloods’ room. Everyone was asleep so she quietly made her way to her bed. Clarke set her box inside her trunk underneath a few shirts. The blonde changed, got into bed and fell asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So as I said, Luna will get what’s coming to her in the next chapter. 
> 
> I hope you liked it and let me know what you think!


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so this took longer than expected for the update. Sorry about that. Life kind of got in the way. But here it is. I hope you like it!

Clarke woke up the next morning and headed down to breakfast. 

This was her first morning training with the nightbloods since Lexa arrived. Sure, she had lessons with them, ate with them, and watched the train from the other side of the training grounds the last week. But she hadn’t been right there watching and participating like usual. The blonde was excited to see how good Lexa was up close and not just staring from a distance.

It was strange. This morning Clarke sat where she normally does, at the far end of the table away from everyone else’s usual spots. Lexa sat down next to her for the second time; however, this time two others tagged along with her. The first Clarke knew to be Luna’s little brother, Aries. The second had never said much in general, but Clarke knew the girl’s name was Nesse. 

Clarke learned a lot about the two during breakfast. Nesse was from Ouskejon Kru and Aries was from Floukru. Clarke assumed that Luna was also from Floukru too, given that her brother was. She learned that Knox, one of the nightbloods that actively participated in Luna’s bullying of Clarke, was also from Ouskejon Kru. The blonde learned that Jackson, Louis, Dayton, and Easton were from Sangedakru, Ingranronakru, Boudalankru, and Delphikru respectively. Aries and Dayton are around the same age. However, Aries is a bit older than the girl. They are the youngest of the nightbloods, only seven years old. Jackson is nine, Louis is almost ten, Easton is eleven, and Nesse is twelve just like Clarke. Knox is apparently the oldest of the group, being 15 years old. Clarke would have thought he was around her age given how small he was, but she was wrong. Apparently he does not do well leading and is always following others so no one thinks he will be the next commander. Luna had turned 14 about three months ago. Clarke already knew Lexa was going to be 14 soon, but learned that soon meant two weeks. 

The blonde didn’t talk much, just listened. It was nice having people talk to her, who weren’t Gus or Marcy, for a change.

Breakfast was over and they all headed out of the room. Archer met them at the ground floor of the tower and led them all to the training grounds. 

While Clarke was training with Gus he made sure to have Clarke not use her hurt wrist. Since this is her first day back from not having to rest it she is excited to train. That is until Archer tells them they are using staffs. Clarke hates using staffs.

Archer begins to pair them up so they can spar. It seems that the fleimkepa has decided to randomly pair them up today. Easton and Aries are the first to be chosen, Louis and Nesse are next, then Jackson and Knox, the second to last pair is Dayton and Lexa. That leaves Luna and Clarke.

Oh, she is definitely not looking forward to this. But, Clarke is determined to make sure Luna doesn’t beat her this time. 

 

______________

 

Unfortunately for Clarke, Luna ends up pinning her under her staff again. Archer is looking the other direction and, as Clarke suspected, Luna goes to make a cheap hit. This time by stepping on her ankle.

Fortunately, there is someone else watching. 

Right before the boot is about to come crashing down on her ankle, Luna’s other foot is pulled out from underneath her and she lands with a thud next to Clarke.

“What do you think you are doing?” Lexa asks, clearly directing the question towards Luna.

“What everyone else is to scared to do,” Luna retorts.

“Get up,” Lexa says throwing a staff towards Luna who is still lying on the ground.

Luna picked up the staff and got up. Luna was now standing across from Lexa, both girls took ready positions. Archer noticed the commotion but thought it best to see how it played out.

Luna made the first move.

The older girl swung her staff towards the left side of Lexa’s body but it was immediately stopped. Lexa then pulled her staff back and took another defensive stance. Luna swung again, this time towards Lexa’s right leg. Lexa stopped the staff with her own again, but this time swung back around. Lexa kicked the staff from Luna’s hands. It landed a few feet away completely out of reach. Lexa swept the others girl’s feet from under her, for the second time that day, with a sweeping motion to her feet. It was so fast that Clarke barely saw what happened. Lexa had Luna pinned.

Lexa leaned down and whispered into Luna’s ear so that only she could hear, “You attack her, and you attack me. Next time, don’t do it.”

And with that Lexa got up. As soon as Luna was on her feet, Lexa turned towards her but was addressing everyone when she said, “It doesn’t matter what clan Clarke, or anyone, is from. Her actions are not those of Nia. You have no right to bully anyone.”

All the nightbloods nodded even though Lexa was just another one of them.

Lexa started to move towards the gates of the city and away from the training grounds.

Clarke followed right after her.

“Hey, Lexa! Wait!” the blonde said trying to keep up.

Lexa paused for a minute but didn’t turn around. Clarke caught up and grabbed Lexa’s hand so that she would face her.

“I… I wanted to thank you,” Clarke said. “You… You didn’t have to do that. I… I just wanted to thank you.”

“You do not have to thank me Clarke. I was just doing what needed to be done,” Lexa replied.

“No, you weren’t. You didn’t have to stop Luna. You could have been like everyone else and just ignored it, but you didn’t. So, thank you,” Clarke leaned in and hugged Lexa after thanking her again.

Lexa didn’t know how to respond to the hug at first, not used to it. Eventually she relaxed and hugged Clarke back though.

“You are welcome.”

 

______________

 

After Lexa and Clarke left the training grounds, Archer had a long talk with Luna.

Luna’s actions towards Clarke got her into a lot of trouble. Because of said actions, Luna was now being sent to the dead zone with a warrior to accompany her for 6 months. There Archer said she was to learn patience, respect, and kindness towards others. Luna had to help anyone she was to come across in the dead zone no matter what. 

Before Luna was to leave to the dead zone however, she was to apologize to Clarke. 

Even though Clarke knew Luna was not completely remorseful, she accepted the apology anyways.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think the format of the next chapter maybe a little different. I am debating between having short chapters of small interactions between Clarke and Lexa and how they grow up, or like a timeline type chapter that is little descriptions of everything that happens, or just slowly progressing to the point of the 100 coming down.
> 
> Idk, I think I’m leaning more towards the slow progression because I want Clarke and Lexa to have time together before everything kind of goes to shit.
> 
> Let me know what you think.
> 
> Thanks! :)


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, okay. So that took a lot longer to getup than expected. I’m really sorry and am making no excuses other than that life got in the way and I lost all motivation to write for the past week or so. 
> 
> There is a time jump in this chapter FYI.
> 
> I hope you enjoy and sorry for the wait. 
> 
> :)

She is jerked awake and her ears are filled with many voices saying many different things.

There is one that she immediately picks out of all the others though.

“Happy Birthday, Clarke.”

It’s Lexa. Clarke could pick her voice out of a sea of hundreds of people.

“Thank you Lex,” she replies.

Clarke slowly looks around her and sees that all the nightbloods are surrounding her bed. At the foot stands Luna and she is holding what appears to be a neatly wrapped gift.

“All of us got this gift for you. We hope it like it,” Luna said placing the box on the chest at the foot of Clarke’s bed. “I picked it out by the way. But if you don’t like it, it was totally Knox who picked it out. You can beat him up.”

Clarke released a small laugh, “Thank you, all of you. I’m sure I will love it.”

“How does it feel to be 14 Clarke?!” Aries asked excitedly.

“Exactly how it felt to be 13 yesterday,” she said sarcastically.

“Ha. Ha.” Luna said just as sarcastically. She then turned towards the rest of the nightbloods and said, “Let’s let Clarke get dressed.”

All of them started to walk away towards their spaces to go get ready themselves.

Lexa was going towards her bed when she turned around suddenly, “After you have lunch with your family, around noon, can you meet me by the back entrance of the tower?”

“Why?”

“I have a surprise for you,” was all the answer Lexa gave before she turned back around ignoring the flood of questions Clarke started firing off.

Clarke got dressed and hurried downstairs. She ate breakfast with the rest of the nightbloods sitting in her usual space between Nesse and Luna with Lexa sitting across from her. 

Luna and Clarke had become good friends after the first came back from the dead zone. Luna had become a much nicer, more accepting and understanding person from her punishment. Clarke readily accepted the full truthful apology she got from the older girl on her return and a nice friendship then began to blossom.

After breakfast, the nightbloods went off to training but Clarke wasn’t going with them. As a custom, on a nightbloods birthday, or in this case Clarke, they got to spend the entire morning with their family. Since afternoons were free time for the nightbloods, Clarke could do as she pleased for the afternoon and stay with her family or go back to the tower, or whatever else she would like to do besides leave the city alone and without permission.

Since Lexa had asked to meet her, that is what Clarke was planning on doing. But first, she was going to spend the morning with those closest to her.

 

______________

 

It only took about ten minutes to get to Gus’s hut from the tower, but Clarke was known to get easily distracted. So, the journey took her just over 30.

The blonde walked straight into the hut and to the kitchen. 

“Hey Uncle Gus,” Clarke greeted the man who was currently cooking as she sat down at the table.

“Clarke! Happy birthday!” Gus said stepping up to the girl, picking her up, and crushing her in a bear hug.

“I can’t breathe,” Clarke managed to squeak out.

“I hope you are hungry,” he said, “I made lots of food.”

“I just ate breakfast, but I should be hungry in a little while. Where is Marcy?” Clarke asked realizing her sister was nowhere to be seen.

“Oh, she will be here in a little bit just wait.”

The two of them chatted for a short time while Gus finished cooking. Clarke was getting antsy over seeing her sister though. Marcy has been on a trip with Nyko for the past month. The older of the two sisters took up and interest in healing about six months after coming to Polis and Nyko said has a natural talent for it. He said Clarke possessed the same talent but the blonde didn’t find much enjoyment in it.

The door opened and Clarke turned around a sprinted out of her chair. She immediately hauled in her tracks when she noticed who it was who opened the door though. Marcy was right at the front, but it was the two figures behind her that she was surprised by, to say the least.

Roan and Eri both stood behind Marcy with huge grins in their faces.

“Happy birthday goufa!” Eri said.

Clarke immediately ran full force towards her nomun and leaped into her arms. Marcy had to dodge out of the way and Roan steadied his aunt as she had to catch her younger daughter.

“Nomun,” Clarke whispered into Eri’s neck.

This was the first time in two years that Clarke had seen her mother. Eri had been in constant communication with letters and messages to both her daughters, but had never been able to come to Polis to visit. Taking down Nia was much harder than anyone had originally thought and so it left little time or option for her to come see her daughters. It tore the three of them apart; however, they all knew what was at stake and accepted that they would see each other once it was over.

Eri eventually set Clarke back down. Clarke then moved to hug Roan and then Marcy. 

“What are our guys doing here?” Clarke asked finally.

“Well, we have a plan and once Roan and I get back it will be set into place. This is the beginning of the end of Nia’s rule. It will work,” Eri said. “But, I don’t want to talk about that right now. It is your birthday Clarke! I want to hear everything about what has happened in the past two years.”

“Nomun, we write letters everyday. You know everything,” Clarke said.

“Clarke, there is definitely a lot you have not told me in your letters. Come. Let’s sit for a while,” Eri motioned both her daughters into the living area.

Roan and Gus gave the three women some space to reconnect as a family.

 

______________

 

The five at much together sometime later.

They were now all seated around the table and had been talking for a little bit.

Clarke remembered she had to meet Lexa soon stood up.

“Where are you going in such a hurry?” Eri asked.

“I promised Lexa I would meet her after lunch,” Clarke stated.

“Well in that case by all means abandon us,” Gus said with a wave of his hand.

With that Clarke said goodbye to everyone and sprinted out the door.

“Who is Lexa?” Roan asked.

“She is Clarke’s friend correct? Clarke had written to me about her once or twice,” Eri said.

“Yes, Clarke and Lexa are best friends,” Gus said. “However, the two of them are oblivious idiots.”

At that Marcy began to snicker.

“What is so funny goufa?” Eri asked.

“They are madly in love with each other and neither realizes the other is,” Marcy said fully laughing with Gustus now.

“Ah,” Roan sighed, “Young love!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well Eri and Roan are back! (At least for a bit.)
> 
> In the next chapter we will see what Lexa’s surprise is... 
> 
> Hope you liked it :)


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so I actually really love this chapter and think it is one of my favorites. I hope you like it!
> 
> :)

It only takes Clarke 10 minutes to get back to the tower from Gus’s. She was not letting anything distract her in the way back. Clarke never really thought about anything else when Lexa was in her mind.

Clarke arrives at the back of the tower and Lexa is standing by the back door waiting for her. 

“Guess who,” Clarke says after sneaking up on Lexa while covering her eyes with both hands.

“I still don’t understand how you can always sneak up on me, and not once has it been possible for me to do the same to you,” Lexa replied exasperated.

“You still haven’t answered the question,” Clarke says simply.

“Clarke, Archer has told me multiple times I am the quietest nightblood and the one most aware of my surroundings. I still do not understand how you do it,” Lexa simply says.

“I will never reveal my secrets. Plus, I have years of practice with Marcy,” Clarke states while removing her hands from Lexa’s eyes.

The brunette turns around and grins at the blonde. 

“Also, your ego has grown a lot in the last few hours. Did you beat Knox again while training?” Clarke asks while arching an eyebrow.

“I was not trying to be self centered Clarke,” Lexa replies. “And for your information, yes it did.”

Clarke witnesses a small grin appear on the older girl’s face.

“But, today is not about me. It is about you. Now, it is time for me to show you my birthday present to you,” Lexa grabs Clarke’s hand and leads her out of the tower.

“Lex, you know you didn’t have to get me anything,” Clarke says simply while being dragged down an alleyway behind the tower.

Suddenly the two of them come to a halt and Lexa spins around. 

“Clarke, it’s your birthday, of course I got you something,” Lexa says. “Besides, what kind of friend would I be if I didn’t?”

“I wouldn’t care,” Clarke replies. “You would still be my best friend either way.”

“Well I did anyways,” the brunette simply shrugs her shoulder. “This way.”

Lexa takes a left turn down a smaller darker alley. She is still holding onto Clarke’s hand and dragging her along. 

The alleyway eventually turns to stairs leading downwards and into a tunnel below Polis’s streets.

“Lex, where are we going?” Clarke asks.

“It’s all part of the surprise Clarke. Come on.”

They walk in the dimly lit tunnel for about a mile. When the two emerge they are outside of Polis’s gates and surrounded by the forest. However, based on the distance, Clarke knows they are still within the city’s boundaries. Lexa leads them a bit further until the reach a clearing. 

“Wow,” is the only word Clarke can get out. 

The sight before her is truly breathtaking. Clarke once thought that no place could beat the view than the one Marcy took her to. However, this far surpasses that. 

There are flowers throughout the clearing of all different varieties, shapes, and colors. Clarke’s hands itch to somehow capture this on paper. 

Lexa soon breaks the silence, “This way.”

Lexa once again, still holding Clarke’s hand, leads them over to one side of the clearing. There is a soft cloth laid out across the ground. Clarke can tell it is from one of the southern clans, probably Sangedakru. There is a small stack of a few more off to the side. There is also a basket with what Clarke assumes to be food. 

“Lexa, what is all this?” 

“It’s all part of your gift Clarke. Come on sit down.”

Lexa finally releases Clarke’s hand and the blonde immediately misses the contact.

The two girls lay down and start to watch the clouds in the sky.

Clarke loses track of the amount of time they have been there. It is the most peaceful and while she has felt in a while. Clarke thinks she could lay there in that field with Lexa forever.

“Clarke?” Lexa asks not moving her head from the position she is watching the sky.

“Hmm…” 

“I… I want to tell you something.” Lexa says nervously.

“Okay?” Clarke is a bit confused but goes along with it anyways.

After a few minutes Lexa starts to speak, “Clarke, you are my best friend. You know me better than anyone and yet I have never fully discussed my past with you. You haven’t asked either and I think it’s because you have never been one to push. You have waited for me to tell you and I respect that-”

Before Lexa can keep going Clarke turns to face Lexa, who is still lying down, and cuts her off having sensed the stress coming from the brunette next to her, “Lexa, you don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to.”

“It’s okay Clarke I want to,” the brunette says now facing the blonde. “My parents names were Alexandria and Akron. I was named after my mother. When I was three, I scraped my knee while playing with some of the other children in my village. Black blood spilled out of the cut. I ran home and the look on my mother’s face was one of horror. At the time, the conclave had been a fight to the death between the nightbloods, it only changed about ten years ago when the commander before Heda Reen, Heda Rux, changed the conclave to what it is now. When my father came back home later that day he immediately knew something was wrong. My mother pulled him out of the room and I could hear them talking in hushed voices. I was only three, so I really had no grasp on what the situation was. Since nightbloods only come to Polis at the age of seven to start training my parents decided that they would spend as much time with me as possible. When I was five, however, there was an attack in our small village. My parents hid me in a small compartment in the closet to protect me. It was the mountain men. They either kidnapped or slaughtered everyone they came across in the village. I was one of four children who were successfully hidden from them. We were the only survivors. From there Heda Atura, the commander before Heda Rux, came to the village. She brought back the other three children to Polis and placed me in the care of Anya. I trained with Anya and lived with her for two years. I started to train with the nightbloods. The conclave has changed by then so it was much less scary. Because of the events of my childhood and losing my parents, I closed myself off to the rest of the world. I never let anyone in besides Anya. That was until you.”

“Lex,” Clarke let out in a whisper. The blonde has tears streaming down her face. Lexa reaches over and wipes the tears off Clarke’s cheeks.

“Hey, it’s your birthday. You can’t cry. I am not telling you this to make you sad. It has a purpose, I promise,” Lexa says as she wraps the blonde in her arms.

All Clarke can do is nod. She wants to tell Lexa about everything she hasn’t about her past as well. Except, Clarke knows she can’t do just that. She promised Gus that she wouldn’t, and knows that it is for her own safety even though the blonde knows Lexa would never say anything, so she keeps quiet.

“Clarke,” Lexa says turning the blonde around to face her, “You are the most important person in my life. From the moment I met you, I was fascinated. I felt this need to get to know everything about you. I know there are things that you haven’t told me, and that is okay. You don’t have to tell me anything that you are not ready to. What I am about to tell you… I mean… When I say this you may never want to speak to me again-”

“Lexa, nothing you say could ever make me not want to speak to you again. Okay? So what were you going to say?” Clarke asks.

“Well here goes nothing I guess,” there is a pause and then Lexa takes a giant breath. Clarke has never seen the older girl like this before. 

“I love you!” the brunette practically shouts it in nervousness.

“I love you too,” Clarke simply replies.

“No, Clarke. I love you. I’m in love with you. I have been for a while. I don’t know when it started but it just did. I love you and I don’t think I will ever stop. I love your smile and your laugh. I love the way you hair shines in the sun. I love you eyes. God, your eyes. I get lost in them like the ocean they hold. I love everything about you Clarke. I love your voice. I love your lips. Whenever I see you, I just want to kiss you so badly that it hurts. I lov-”

Clarke interrupts Lexa by surging forward and being their lips together. The kiss is messy and sloppy but full of love. Their lips fit perfectly together. Clarke’s tongue runs across Lexa’s bottom lip sealing entrance that the older of the two immediately grants. The taste of the blonde’s tongue makes Lexa want to moan but somehow she successfully swallows it.

When the two separate it is only because of their need for air. Their foreheads rest against one another and there is barely any space between them.

“You talk to much Lex,” Clarke whispers with a grin forming on her face.

“I talk to much?!” Lexa asks exasperated. “Clarke have you ever met yours-”

Another kiss silences the brunette, this time it is short and sweet. 

Clarke pulls back just as quick as she leaned in and Lexa tries chasing her lips. The younger girl puts a finger up to the other’s mouth to prevent her from speaking.

“Yes, you do. With all your rambling you never allowed me to say that I love you too.”

There is a huge smile across the blonde’s face and an equally large one on the brunette’s.

They share another sloppy kiss and then fall back onto the blanket. They watch as the sun sets and the stars start to shine in the sky while wrapped in each other’s arms.

“Just one question,” Clarke says.

“What?” Lexa replied.

“What if I had not returned the feelings? What if you had ruined my birthday? Which I would just like to say that you never could. But what if?” Clarke asked.

“Then I would have spent my whole life trying to make it up to you.”

After that, neither speaks. They stay in each other’s arms for another hour before deciding that they had to head back to their tower or people would worry.

They walk back hand in hand after cleaning up the area. 

When they arrive at the doors to the nightbloods bedroom, Clarke stops them. She turns around and looks Lexa dead in the eye.

“Thank you Lex,” she says.

“For what?”

“For making my birthday the best day I have ever had.”

Clarke kisses Lexa one last time before turning around, opening the doors, and walking to her bed. In her wake she leaves a stunned and grinning Lexa behind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So... what did you think of Lexa’s surprise!?!?!?
> 
> Also, it was obviously ill used to in the chapter that the conclave is different. It was changed and Lexa and the other nightbloods will not fight to the death. I just have kind of grown attached to the other nightbloods and I have an idea for what happens to them all after the conclave, but I need some help. I don’t want a canon conclave obviously but I need an alternative for it. I have been trying to come up with one and it is just so difficult to come up with an idea I like. If you have any ideas please let me know thanks.
> 
> I hope you enjoyed!!! ;)


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh my... I know this took way too long but it’s finally here. :/ I’m sorry that it is such a late update but life got in the way and I had a bit of writers block.
> 
> Anyways, here it is. This chapter is pretty important as it sets up what is to happen in later chapters. This chapter jumps ahead by about a little over a year from the last chapter. Clarke is 15 and Lexa is a little over a month from being 17. 
> 
> I hope you enjoy! ;)

Clarke was sitting in Gus’s hut waiting for him to get back. 

It had been weeks since Clarke has gotten any free time. She was either training, spending what little free time she had with Lexa (but that’s not unusual for either of the two of them), eating, or sleeping. For weeks Clarke has been putting more time into training. She has always wanted to be the best and so she keeps pushing herself harder and harder. Lexa keeps telling her to take a break and she finally listened.

That is what she is doing right now sitting in Gus’s living room. But, Gus was supposed to meet her about two and a half hours ago.

Clarke, at first, just thought that he was running late. Then an hour past and she was starting to think that something came up at the tower and he was just handling it. But now, she was starting to worry. Gus was never this late.

Normally Clarke would have Marcy to keep her company so she wouldn’t be as jittery as she is right now. The problem is, that Marcy is on a trip with Nyko. And she won’t be back for another two weeks. Sometimes Lexa comes with her to Gus’s to eat dinner, but Archer wanted to talk to her so the brunette couldn’t come. 

Now there is no one to comfort her or stop her from getting panicky.

The blonde finally decided to head back to the tower and see if he was still there. Just before she left, however, she left a note in the kitchen in case Gus came home and she wasn’t there.

 

______________

 

Clarke made her way through the streets in no time at all. The sun had already set and the market had closed for the evening so there wasn’t many people around. 

As she made her way up to the tower Clarke noticed that there were more guards then usual outside. She also noticed that the stables had many more horses in it tonight. 

The guards outside let Clarke pass without any hassle per usual, they all know her. However, when she was about to make her way up the stairs one of the guards she had never seen before grabbed her arm and tugged her back.

Still holding onto her arm, the guard leaned down to her eye level and snarled, “Where do you think you are going?!”

Clarke was never one to obey authority, and this guard certainly didn’t have any over her. 

“To my room. Now release my arm or Heda will hear about this.”

The guard, not knowing that Clarke was in fact somewhat close to Heda Reen, laughed in her face. 

“I don’t take my orders from a child. And not one that is trying to sneak into the tower at night. I know you do not live here, only the nightbloods and Geda live here. You are not a nightblood. The cut on your cheek proves it.”

The guard was about to punch the blonde but a fist encapsulated his own and a whimper left the guards mouth. He guard immediately released his grip on Clarke’s upper arm and fell to his knees clutching his other right hand.

“Never lay a hand on her again!” Gus spat and then called a few guards inside. “Do not let him in here again. Watch him at all times. I want to have a little hat with him later.”

The guards all nodded their heads and hurried the injured one outside.

Gus slowly approached Clarke and knelt down in front of her.

“Are you alright goufa?” 

“Yes, I am fine Uncle Gus,” she replied while clutching her arm where the guard had grabbed her.

“Move your hand and let me see,” Gus said very gently.

Clarke did as she was told. As she moved her hand away Gus could already see a nasty bruise forming. 

“I will get you some ointment for that. I am sorry that I never showed for our dinner. Something has happened that required immediate assistance. However, you need to head upstairs to the throne room,” he said standing back up.

“Why? Has something happened?” Clarke asked getting worried.

“Yes, something has. It is nothing bad as of yet, though. Now get upstairs. I was sent down to go get you from my hut. Now go before we both get into trouble,” Gus said lightly pushing the fifteen year old towards the stairs.

“Okay, okay. I’m going,” Clarke said slowly walking towards the stairs. 

A few second later, however, Gus felt a small body and arms wrap around him from behind.

“Thank you Uncle Gus,” the blonde whispered into his back. 

He turned around to get a proper hug and said, “There is nothing to thank me for goufa. You are family, and family protects family. Now go!”

And with that Clarke released him and sped up the stairs.

 

______________

 

Clarke entered the throne room and was stunned to say the least. 

Heda Reen was sitting on her throne. All the nightbloods were standing, somewhat set behind, on the right side on Heda. Archer was standing on Heda’s left side. All of this was very common when Clarke was in the throne room. 

There were members of each clan standing off to the left side of the room. That was very strange given the tensions between most of them. 

But that wasn’t even the strangest part. The strangest part was that set right in front of Clarke, standing in between Heda and the blonde was a post. Now Clarke had witnessed a few trials and executions. She knew what they looked like and this was definitely one. The strange thing was the person tied to the post.

It was Nia.

Clarke finally processed the situation and lunged at Nia. The blonde started yelling and was trying to get to the Ice bitch but something was holding her back. 

“Goufa you need to calm down. Beja,” a voice spoke into her ear. 

Clarke broke at the sound of that voice. She turned around and collapsed. She never hit the ground though.

“Nomun,” Clarke whispered as she was wrapped in her mother’s arms. 

“It’s okay Clarke. It’s okay,” Eri whispered into her youngest daughter’s ear, “It’s okay. I got you.”

Clarke soon felt two strong arms wrap around her and pick her up. She immediately released her mother and clung to the body she knew to be Roan’s. 

The three of them made there way to the left side of the room where Eri and Roan were originally standing. Roan carried Clarke while she was still calming down.

The blonde only took about another minute before she composed herself. 

She looked over towards the nightbloods and immediately found Lexa’s eyes. Lexa had a mask of composure on her face per usual, but she could see right through it. Clarke could see that Lexa wanted to go over to Clarke and wrap her in a hug. The older girl wanted to comfort and protect the blonde. It was all in her eyes. 

Clarke saw green orbs drift up and down her own body, presumably checking that she was alright. Eventually the brunette’s eyes landed on Clarke’s right bicep and stopped. She could see the sadness in her eyes slowly transform into anger. Clarke knew at that moment that Lexa wanted to find whoever did that to the blonde and put the fear of god into them.

Clarke was pulled out of her thoughts when Heda began to speak.

“I am sorry that I have pulled all of you hear so late in the night,” she began, “But this is most necessary. Queen Nia has been doing unspeakable acts to her people for years now. Eri kom Azgeda and Prince Roan have brought both proof of these acts and the Queen herself to face her end. I know that the twelve clans do not have good relations many of the other clans. However, I think we can all agree on this matter at hand. Queen Nia has slaughtered not just her own people but many of yours as well. Each clan has suffered at her hand more than once. Today is the day you get your revenge. Queen Nia is to die by one thousand cuts tomorrow morning. Tonight is just the sentencing. Now that you have all been informed and before the Skaiprisa arrived you were shown the evidence that was brought with her, we shall give the Queen a chance to defend herself.”

A roar of protested sounded from the right side of the room where all the representatives from the 12 clans stood. Clarke could see that there was no one from Azgeda on the other side so she assumed that Roan was the representative in this matter, or possibly her mother. 

Heda Reen held up a hand and the room silenced, “I know that many of you have your own issues with Queen Nia. However, it is her right that she has the chance to speak if she would like.”

Heda motioned to the guards standing by the doors and two of them walked towards Nia and removed her gag. 

“Nia, what have you to say?” Heda asked.

“I don’t have anything to say to the likes of any of you. I just request one thing,” she said.

“And what is that?” Heda asked.

“I speak alone with my niece,” Nia stayed in a bone chilling tone.

At the request Clarke tended up. She could feel her mother tense as well. Roan slowly took a step in front of the two ready to defend them.

“If she is willing, then so be it,” Heda replied.

Everyone in the room was tuned into the conversation. All of the clans knew that Nia had a brother, they knew that he was older but no one knew what happened after he abdicated the throne. They especially didn’t know that that he had a daughter. There were only eight people who knew of Penn’s daughter, or daughters but once again they didn’t know that either. Five of the eight people were in the throne room at that moment, one was in the tower somewhere, another was out on a trip and the last one was dead. 

Heda knee the situation and did not want to over step. She looked towards Eri and questioned the mother with her eyes. Before Eri could even answer the silent question directed towards her Clarke stepped forward. Her mother tried to grab her but it was no use. 

“Before you killed my nontu right before me I had no connection to you. Even now that I know I have no connection to you and never will. You may by law be my queen, but you were never my Ani and you never will be. I denounce any relation to you I have and want no connection to you. I do not want to speak to you ever, the only thing I want to do is plunge a life into your chest like you did to my nontu’s. But, I am not the only one who suffered at your hand, so for the benefit for everyone you have, I will not.” 

With that, Clarke stormed out of the room. 

Everyone stood in shock of all the information they just heard. 

“Well Nia,” Heda Reen said after several moments of silence, “Your niece has denied your request. If that is all, everyone is dismissed.”

Eri left the room first rushing after her daughter and Roan was hot on her tail. The representatives left the room slowly all still in shock and disbelief. The nightbloods were in a similar state. Archer quickly ushered them out of the room. The guards were dismissed by Heda when she realized that Lexa had not moved from her place. 

“Lexa,” Heda Reen said as she placed a hand on the nightbloods shoulder. 

At the touch Lexa was knocked back into reality and sprinted out of the room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Soooo.....
> 
> What do you think?!? Let me know. 
> 
> BTW: I have an entire storyline in my head and how I want this to unfold. It’s just hard for me to put all that into words a lot of the time. I have started working on the next chapter but I do not know when I should be done with it.
> 
> Until next time :)


	17. Chapter 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so it’s finally here. First off, I would like to apologize for the four month wait. I have no excuses other than the fact that I couldn’t get this chapter to go in the direction I wanted it to go in. I wrote this specific chapter about 80 different times with 40 different scenarios. I promise that is not an over exaggeration. None of it seemed to work the way I wanted it to. I finally ended up with this chapter you are about to read. Secondly, once again I’m sorry for the long wait. Thirdly, The chapter that I did end up with (this one) isn’t what I necessarily wanted to happen, but it is close enough to how it played out in my head. I can’t really seem to get things from inside my head to work on paper if anyone understand that. Lastly, I am so grateful for all of you for sticking around to see where this story goes and I hope you enjoy. Thank you so much for reading. :)
> 
> Also just so you know everything spoken in this chapter is Azgedasleng for anoyone who was wondering.

Clarke ran out of the throne room and didn’t look back. Not only had she just outed herself as Nia’s niece to most of the clans, but she did so in front of Lexa. That wouldn’t have been an issue if Clarke had just told her about it. 

She probably had just ruined her entire relationship with the girl she lived all because she was a coward. Or at least that’s what Clarke thought.

Clarke ran and ran until her could feel both her legs and lungs giving out. Even then, the blonde pushed herself until she physically collapsed. Thank the spirits she was already out of the city. She didn’t want anyone to see her like this. Especially after the revelation of Nia being her aunt. 

All of Polis probably knew of their relation by now. If people didn’t want to kill her just because she was Azgeda before, well they sure had a reason to now. 

As Clarke slowly regained her breathing and began to look around at her surroundings, she noticed she had no idea where she was. She leaned herself up against a tree and looked towards the stars. 

Anytime that Clarke felt panicked she would usually come outside and look at the stars. It something her and her nontu used to do together. It calmed her. Penn would point out all the groupings of stars and tell her the tales behind them. When Clarke was around 8, her and Penn picked the brightest star in the sky and decided that they star was theirs. Now whenever Clarke looks at it she feels a bit closer to her nontu. One thing she didn’t realize, was that the star she was currently looking at was actually the Ark.

Clarke soon calmed down and decided to look around again. This time, however, she actually got up and began to walk around and check her surroundings. She still didn’t recognize anything, and even worse with it being so dark out she didn’t even know what direction she had come in.

Clarke decided to mark a tree with the signal Roan had taught her, and climbed in it. The marking would let Roan know that she was in that tree if he came searching for her. Clarke climbed high enough to be out of sight but still on a sturdy enough branch to rest on. The blonde leaned up against the trunk with her legs outstretched on a wide branch and closed her eyes.

She was exhausted and just needed some sleep before she could face the repercussions of earlier that evening. 

 

______________

 

Eri and Roan had chased after Clarke once she left the throne room. Both of them knew how emotional she could get and because of that how much trouble she could wind up in.

Gus was just entering the tower when they had reached the bottom of the staircase. He had a worried expression on his face that neither could seem to decipher.

“Have you seen Clarke at all?” Eri quickly asked the giant of a man.

“Yes, she just ran out of the tower. I tried to stop her, but she seemed distraught. Almost as if she wasn’t even in her own body. If was very weird, but understandable with who was in the throne room,” he replied.

“Thank you Gustus,” Roan said.

“We should go to the stables and get horses. We can cover more ground while looking for her,” Eri suggested.

“The horses from the members of the twelve clans are just outside. You don’t need to go to the stables just take one of theirs. I will deal with them later,” Gus stated, being as helpful as ever.

The two Azgeda rushed outside and mounted the first horses they saw. Speeding down the main path and towards the gates. At the same time, Gus ordered all his available men to search the city for Clarke. 

 

______________

 

Eri and Roan had been searching for almost two hours. Roan didn’t want to call it a night but knew they would have to soon because of how dark it was. He also knew that Eri would not want to give up looking for her youngest daughter. 

They were now deep into the forest that surrounded Polis. You couldn’t even see the flame that burned on the top of the tower anymore. Thankfully, since Roan and Erin had both spent significant time coming and going from Polis in many directions, they both knew their way back to the city.

Eri was worried behind belief. She was worried about Clarke and how she was reacting to Nia being in Polis and everything that went along with that. However, she was now also worried about where Clarke was. She knew her daughter and because of that knew that when she was stressed she need usually went outside to look at the stars. The problem was, Clarke could be anywhere and could currently be in danger because of this and Eri could do nothing to save her at this moment if that was the case. 

Suddenly, Roan haunted both horses and hopped of his mount. He walked over to a tree and began to examine its bark. He then stepped back and looked up. Eri followed his eyes and noticed the golden glint in the tree. 

Immediately, she hopped off her own horse and bolted towards the tree. She started to climb and, in frighteningly fast speed, reached the 15 year old. 

With Eri shaking the branches to get into the tree, Clarke was woken from her sleep. Afraid that she was being attacked, Clarke pulled her knife ready to defend herself. 

“Didn’t Roan ever teach you to never pull a knife on your mother?” Eri said in reaction to seeing the object. Clarke quickly out the knife away and flung herself at her mother wrapping her arms tightly around the older woman’s neck almost knocking them both off the tree in the process.

“Careful goufa, no need to push me out of the tree.”

All she got in response we soft sobs echoing from the girl whose face was buried in her neck. 

“It’s okay yongun. It’s okay.”

Eri held he baby girl feeling all her pain wishing she could take that away from her. She wished both her daughters could have had a normal life. A life where they had both their parents and they weren’t separated all the time. A life in which Nia held no relation to them and they could just live life without the fear of devastation and loss that could be brought onto the family at any moment. One in which her youngest child didn’t have to see her own father killed before her eyes. She wished that her daughters didn’t know the pain that they had lived with since that day. She wished she could take that pain and bear it herself. Oh how she wished that they wouldn’t suffer.

Clarke’s cries eventually died out and all that was left was her sniffling. Eri gently pulled her daughters face from the crook of her neck and wiped the tears off her cheeks. She reached into her jacket and pulled out a cloth that she used to wipe blonde’s nose. 

“You want to tell me what is wrong yongun?” Eri asks while cradling the blonde.

Clarke shook her head as a way of saying no. Eri, not accepting no for an answer, squeezed the blonde’s arm lightly as if saying, ‘Look at me’.

Clarke looked up and into her mother’s hazel eyes and the tears poured down her face once more.

“I’m going to lose her nomun,” Clarke’s voice broke and so did Eri’s heart along with it. She hated seeing her child like this. Clarke buried her face back into Eri’s neck trying to hide away from the reality of the life she was living. Her mother’s arms were always a safe place and she just wanted to feel safe at that moment.

“Baby, look at me,” Eri said while lifting her daughter’s face up with a finger under her chin. “Who are you going to lose?”

“Lexa.”

That word pulled a laugh from the brunette. “Yongun, I don’t think you could get rid of that girl even if you wanted to. You won’t lose her. She loves you as much as you love her. What could possibly make you think you are going to lose her?”

“I didn’t tell her that I was related to that ice bitch-”

“Language,” Eri chastised the girl.

“Sorry, nomun,” Clarke said.

“Don’t apologize Clarke. She is a bitch, and a cold hearted one at that. But please continue, I am sorry for interrupting.”

“Well I didn’t tell Lexa about Nia and now she knows, but it wasn’t like I told her first. She found out just like everyone else did. Lexa has opened up to me and told me everything and I have just been lying and lying. I’ve kept this a secret from her and now she isn’t going to want to be with me anymore. She probably hates me,” Clarke rambled on about while choking back sob after sob.

Eri stroked her daughters hair trying to calm her down, “Yongun, Lexa will understand. That girl is one of the smartest people I’ve met and I believe that she will see you hid the fact that you were related to Nia because you didn’t even see yourself as being related to her as well as you were protecting yourself and your family. And, if she doesn’t see that then she has me to deal with.”

“And me,” said Roan from the base of the tree.

That pulled a laugh from the teenager.

“Thank you nomun.”

“There is no need to thank me. You are my daughter. It’s my job to knock some sense into you.”

Clarke once again laughed at her mother’s antics.

“Can we go back now?” Roan asked. “It’s getting cold and I’m tired.”

“Let’s get down quickly. I don’t want to hear complaining all the way back from the goufa down there,” Eri whispered into Clarke’s ear.

Clarke smiled and nodded her head, “Agreed.”

“Hey, I heard that. Ani Eri Clarke is sharing your horse. You both have betrayed me,” Roan announced.

“You sound like a goufa who has just had their favorite toy stolen from them. Why should we not treat you as a goufa if you act like one?” Eri questioned her nephew.

Roan huffed but did not refute the argument for he saw the logic. They then all mounted the horses and started to head back to Polis.

Clarke was obviously riding with her mother.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Soooo...... what did you think. I really hope you guys liked it even if I didn’t as much as I should have. I hope to have the next chapter out soon and am writing it as we speak. (I know I said that last time about this chapter, but I don’t think it will be four months until the next chapter.) Thank you for reading and please be nice in the comments.


	18. Chapter 18

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so here’s the next chapter. I think I’m slowly getting back into the rhythm and am having a lot of inspiration. The story is actually taking a different route than I wanted it to, but I’m really liking it and I hope you are as well. Well, that’s it and I really hope you enjoy! :)
> 
> Also, just in case anyone was wondering, everything in plain text is Trigedasleng and italics is Azgedasleng.

When Clarke, Eri, and Roan returned to the tower they found it in utter chaos. There were soldiers everywhere from all different clans fighting one another. Bodies lay littered on the ground. There was screaming all around. Slowly the rest of Polis was being woken up and brought into the madness. 

Clarke was brought back to the day she transcended onto her village only to find it in a similar state. Memories began to flash before her eyes. Houses burning down. Marcy bringing her to their house. Their parents missing. Nia. Her nontu’s dead body. 

Clarke was getting overwhelmed. 

Roan grabbed one of the guards from the tower, who was rushing by, by the arm. 

“What’s happening?” he asked.

“Head has passed. The conclave is set to begin tomorrow, but the-”

Clarke didn’t wait for the guard to finish. All she could think about was Lexa. She needed to find her.

 

______________

 

“Heda has passed. The conclave is set to begin tomorrow, but the-”

Eri didn’t pay attention as she saw Clarke rush into the tower. She wanted to go after her but needed to understand the full situation. 

“I’m sorry could you repeat that?” she asked the guard.

“But then the queen escaped. The clans all turned on one another blaming each other for the escape. The tower has descended into chaos,” the guard repeated.

Eri immediately looked at Roan and together they sped into the tower in search of Clarke. With the queen loose and in Polis, Clarke was at more risk than ever.

 

______________

 

Clarke ran up the stairs has fast as she could. She had to avoid all the fights going on around her though, which slowed her down quite a bit. There were people everywhere. More people than the blonde had seen in the tower. The further up the tower she went, the less people occupied the space. However; the destruction was far greater. 

Clarke finally reached the floor she was looking for and bolted down the hallway. She reached the large double doors and slammed them open. 

The nightbloods quarters were probably the one of the rooms that was still somewhat intact in the tower. There were a few trunks turned over and papers scattered all over along with some desks that seemed to be broken. 

The furniture and clutter wasn’t what concerned Clarke though. 

Every single one of the nightbloods were passed out in their beds. There were also, what appeared to be, three soldiers searching the room. Clarke didn’t know who they were or what they were searching for but wasn’t planning on finding out. They were, obviously, staring right at her after she forcefully opened the doors. All of them seemed to be shocked by her presence.

Clarke was planning on running out of the room, but then she noticed something at the far end. Lexa was sprawled across the floor. At that moment nothing else mattered. The blonde had to make sure that Lexa was okay. 

She dashed across the room and tried to wake her up but nothing worked. She checked the girls pulse like Marcy had taught her to do. It was still there and strong. Clarke breathed a sigh of relief but that didn’t last for long. What the blonde had failed to notice was one of the men leave the room and shout down the hall. Clarke also failed to notice not just the man re-enter, but that someone else was with him. 

Nia.

_“Ah, young love,”_ the Ice Queen said with a hint of disgust evident in her tone. _“It’s a foolish thing.”_

At the sound of her voice, Clarke looked up.

_“What did you do to them?”_ Clarke was beyond angry. Angrier now more than ever that she knew who was responsible for all of this.

_“Doesn’t matter,”_ Nia replied. _“You won’t be here when they wake up. I would say your goodbyes if I were you. And make it quick. We have places to be.”_

_“I’m not going anywhere. Especially with you,”_ Clarke replied with such hatred directed at the woman before her.

_“Grab her,”_ Nia demanded of her men. 

Two of them started walking towards her.

_“No, I said I’m not going anywhere with you, you bitch!”_ Clarke said while trying to fight back against the two men infront of her. Suddenly, Clarke felt a searing pain at the back of her head and her vision went black.

 

______________

 

Lexa awoke very groggily. Her surroundings were off and she could remember much of what happened before she seemingly passed out. She heard what sounded like guards in the hallway. Slowly Lexa tried to sit up. Her head was pounding.

Slowly it began to come back to her. She remembered being in the throne room and a very upset Clarke. She remembered her yelling at someone… Nia. Clarke was yelling at Nia. Then she remembered how Clarke had revealed herself as Nia’s niece when she requested to speak to her. She remembered running up to the room and trying to find Clarke. She remembered seeing all of the nightbloods come up stairs and laying in their beds, probably on the orders from Archer. She remembered she was about to run out of the room to find Clarke but then red smoke filled her vision and then everything went black.

Immediately, Lexa got up. That did not help her pounding head, but at that moment Lexa did not care. The only thing she cared about was finding Clarke. 

She noticed that all the other nightbloods seemed to be waking up and looking as out of it as she felt. Still, Lexa couldn’t help them right now. She needed to find Clarke. 

The brunette headed towards the door and saw guards up and down the hallway. Lexa exited the room and slowly noticed all the destruction and death surrounding her. 

Now she was even more worried.

Lexa rushed down the stairs and was almost knocked over by the large body standing at the bottom. She looked up and was thankful to see a friendly face.

“Gus, where is Klark?” she asked.

As Gustus looked down at her, Lexa could see the fear and sadness on the man’s face. That scared Lexa to her core as she had never once seen the man before her scared in her life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you liked it and let me know what you think in the comments. Thank you for reading :)


	19. Chapter 19

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello beautiful people! I’m sorry this chapter took so long, but here it finally is. I finally got to finishing it this morning with the little free time I had. I hope you enjoy it.

Lexa was sitting in the throne room. She had won the conclave. Lexa was now Heda, but it didn’t feel right. None of it felt right. 

The Ice Queen had escaped to Azgeda five weeks ago and had taken Clarke with her. It had been five weeks and Lexa had been unable to do anything. 

At least anything pertaining to Clarke. Lexa had successfully joined together ten of the clans, with the eleventh soon to join as well, into a coalition. Something no Heda has ever done before. She had established peace between almost all of the clans. She was the most accomplished Heda, all within the span of five weeks. 

However, none of it felt right. And Lexa knew exactly why.

Because of Clarke. Clarke was the only person who believe in her when she said she was going to unite all the clans. She was the only one who thought that she could successfully bring peace and create a coalition. Clarke had even helped her come up with ways to get all of the twelve clans to agree to join the Coalition. Without Clarke none of it would have happened. 

But, Clarke wasn’t even there to see it happen. She had been stolen from her home and was being held against her will.

Or at least Lexa hoped that Clarke was being held against her will. Lexa knew that was an awful thing to hope for; however, there was only one other possibility running through Lexa’s head. If Clarke wasn’t being held against her will, then she was dead. And Lexa couldn’t think, or believe, that Clarke was dead. So yes, Lexa hoped that Clarke was being held against her will.

A tear slipped down Lexa’s cheek. She aggressively wiped it away. She had not let herself feel more emotion that that over the past five weeks. A small tear when she was all alone. And even that, according to herself, was too much emotion to be shown as the Commander. She worked all day and night to avoid feeling anything. She would wake up, eat, train, hold meetings, eat and train some more, and then go to sleep and do it all over again. Lexa chose to distract herself so that she could be a ‘good Heda’ for her people. Those close to her tried to get her to open up, even if just for a second. But, she wouldn’t budge and refused to talk about anything other than what was necessary. 

She refocused her attention to the table placed in the center of the room that she was now standing over. The table held maps and potential plans of attack for the upcoming infiltration of Ice Nation. 

Lexa had convinced the ambassadors that getting the Ice Nation to join the Coalition would be for the best. And in order to do so, they had agreed that Nia needed to be removed from the throne. Most of them want Nia dead anyways so it worked out. 

Lexa was grateful that they had agreed, or else the Coalition would have fallen apart because she would have attacked Ice Nation in order to save Clarke. No matter the cost. 

There was a knock on the door that drew Lexa’s gaze up from the table.

“Enter.”

The guards opened the doors to reveal Anya.

“The ambassadors will be in soon. You need to fix your war paint. It is smudged.”

Anya didn’t comment on the fact that she knew the smudging was from tears. She knew her former second was hurting, but knew there was also nothing she could do to help. Besides plan for the invasion that is.

Lexa calmly walked towards the small chamber set off to the side of the room. She washed her face of all the war paint on it. She looked up and stared into the mirror. Slowly, Lexa’s face was hidden by the Commander’s mask. After staring for a few minutes, she slowly reapplied her war paint.

The Commander’s mask broke for just a minute. A small smile appeared on he face as she thought of how Clarke would call her a racoon whenever the girl saw her with he war paint on. Lexa used to hate it, but at this moment she wished for nothing more than to hear the girl with blonde hair as golden as the sun and eyes as blue as the ocean to be calling her a racoon.

The smile slipped into a frown and tears began to well in her eyes. She tilted her head back willing the tears to go away. When she looked back into the mirror, Lexa was gone and only Heda could be seen.

Behind the door she could hear the ambassadors and their advisors slowly gathering in the throne room. Lexa took one more big breathe and then opened the door. The voices in the room slowly quieted into silence. She made her way up the dias and stood in front of her throne. 

“Bow to your Commander,” Nesse said. Lexa saw the girl out of the corner of her eye. Archer was standing next to the younger girl looking very proud. Nesse was now training to be a fleimkepa and Archer was her fos. 

Everyone in the room bent down on one knee and hung their heads. 

“Rise,” Lexa commanded. Once everyone was back on their feet Lexa stepped down from the dias and walked up to the table. With a wave of her hand, the leaders of the ten clans who have already joined the coalition stepped up to the table as well.

“We need to go over our plan of attack,” Lexa started. “We are going for the element of surprise, but that may not work. Either way the plan is very similar. What we are going to is…”

 

______________

 

The meeting had lasted for at least three hours. There were many arguments about the plan, but eventually everyone came to an agreement.

Lexa adjourned the meeting partly because everyone was getting antsy and hungry, but also because she could feels her mask starting to crack. 

As soon as all the clans had left the throne room, she left as well. She could feel herself about to break and needed to get out of sight as quick as possible. The elevator was cleared out and she got on with four guards. It started to move upwards. After five flights upwards, they reached the top. She exited the elevator and walked towards her room. Her guards took positions around the rest of the floor along with the other guards already posted at the Commander’s door. 

As soon as the doors were shut, Lexa was tearing at her clothes. The red sash hit the floor first. There was then a series of thuds as her armour was hurriedly peeled off. She was only in a shirt, tight pants and her boots by the time she made in to the bed. She collapsed onto the bed and desperately tried to get off her shoes. The first came off easily. The second was much more of a task. 

As much as she pulled she couldn’t get her boot off. Lexa’s frustration was building by the second. Her boot would budge. Quickly, she became angry and angrier. That anger soon turned into sadness. All the bottled up emotions inside of her were bubbling to the surface. Her boot came off with a forceful tug. She took hold of the boot and flung it across the room. She heard a crash but didn’t care to see what it was. 

Lexa stood up from the bed and looked around the room. Nothing looked right. That, and the amount of anger she was feeling at the moment, set her off. She started tearing up the room. The sheets were rugged off the bed and ripped. The bed was torn up. She threw candles left and right, causing them to crash into other objects around the room. Lexa tore, threw and destroyed anything within sight or reach. 

Lexa was so caught up in her rampage, that she didn’t notice the door to her room open. She also didn’t notice the body that was making its way towards her. 

When a hand was laid on her shoulder, Lexa’s years of training immediately too action. She grabbed the wrist of the intruder, used her low center of gravity and slammed the person over her shoulder and into the ground. She then hopped onto the person while simultaneously grabbing the small knife she always kept attached to her right thigh. The knife was swiftly placed at the neck of the intruder while snarling in their face.

It took a few seconds for her to realize that the ‘intruder’ was in fact not an intruder at all. It was Clarke’s sister, Marcy. 

Marcy has returned from her hunting trip as soon as she had heard that her sister was missing. She made a three days ride in only two days.

Marcy has been one of the few people trying to get Lexa to open up over these past few weeks. (The two had become good friends over the years, which isn’t surprising given that they both live Clarke.) However, Lexa has insisted that she is fine.

Lexa releases Marcy as soon as she recognises the girl. She withdrawals the knife from her neck and lets it clatter to the floor. She quickly gets off the older girl and shuffled backwards until her back hits a wall. 

Marcy props herself up on her elbows and watches as Lexa curls up into a ball and shakes with silent sobs. 

Slowly, the older brunette makes her way over to the broken girl. Marcy approaches calmly and eventually sits herself down right next to Lexa. She extends her left arm and simply places it on the younger girls shoulder. Immediately, Lexa reacts and latched onto the older girl. 

The two of them sit against the wall and cry together. Marcy is almost cradling Lexa, but neither seem to care. They just sit together and hold one another hoping for the return of the golden haired girl they both love. 

Eventually, they both fall asleep with tear streaks staining their cheeks and still clinging to each other.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me know what you thought in the comments. Thank you so much for reading and I really hope you enjoyed it. 
> 
> Also, if you would like to know how the conclave works, I have included the link of my ideas of how it should go. So take a read if you want.
> 
> https://archiveofourown.org/works/17567210


	20. Chapter 20

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So here is the next chapter. If you didn’t get a chance to read the author’s note I put up yesterday, I would suggest looking at the tags. I added a few that will come into play in the next few chapters. I hope you all continue to enjoy the story.
> 
> I hope you like this chapter. 
> 
> Also note that Azgedasleng is in italics.

Lexa awoke to find herself being held by someone. Believing it to be Clarke, she snuggled closer and placed her head in the crook of the other person's neck. 

As she inhaled, her eyes flew open. The person was obviously not Clarke. Clarke smelt of vanilla, flowers and, what Lexa could only imagine to be, sunshine. This person smelt similar, there was a hint of cinnamon and earth, but it wasn’t quite right. Lexa realized that the person holding her was Marcy. She must have succumb to her exhaustion and passed out when Marcy came in and interrupted her rampage. 

Lexa slowly and carefully extracted herself from the older girls embrace. She stood and looked down at her friend leaning up against the wall, then switched her gaze to the doors leading to the balcony. From the amount of sunlight coming in, Lexa could tell it was the morning. 

The younger girl made her way through the room. She picked up a few furs and one of the few pillows that was still intact. She brought them over to wear Marcy was still sleeping. She laid the pillow and some of the furs down on the ground. Lexa then gently lowered Marcy onto the makeshift bed and laid the rest of the furs on top of her. The older brunette barely even rustled in her sleep. 

‘She sleeps as much like a log as Clarke does,’ Lexa thought. Shaking her head to rid herself of the thoughts, Lexa stood up. 

She took a long look around the room and assessed the damage. It wasn’t too bad. There were a few broken items here and there, but nothing important.

Lexa made quick work of cleaning up the room. Just as she was finishing up, the handmaidens entered the room and Lexa began to get ready for her day. 

 

______________

 

Clarke sat in the cold cell curled up with the only fur, if you could even call it that, that they gave her. She was shivering. Her clothes were soaked in her own blood and sweat. 

Nia had been having her tortured everyday since she has been here. Nia said that it was to break her to the point where she would be able to shape her into the perfect heir and serve at her request. Basically Nia wanted her to be a personal slave. 

Clarke wasn’t giving in though. Through her training with the nightbloods and Gus, she had enough self discipline and restraint to survive whatever Nia through at her. 

Nia and her men had just left, so Clarke knew she was ‘safe’ until the morning. 

Clarke let her mind wander for awhile. Eventually, she came to think about the few things she knew about her current situation. 

First, she knew that she was much further north than she had ever been. If she had to guess, she was at the edge of Azgeda territory. 

Second, she knew she had been gone for around two weeks. She kept track of the days based on her meals. Clarke was given two meals everyday. The food always varied, but it was always old and just at the point before rotting. 

Finally, she knew that Lexa was looking for her. There was no way that Lexa wasn’t doing everything she possibly could to find the blonde. Clarke also knew that her noman, Roan and Marcy would also be looking for her. 

The door burst open and Clarke was drawn out of her thoughts. 

In the doorway stood Nia. It was odd that it was just her. In the time that the blonde has been her, whenever Nia came to her cell it was always with at least one other person. 

Nia stepped into the room. She looked around for a moment and then yelled for a chair. Immediately one was brought to her and she took a seat. 

The two stared at each other for a short time. Nia clicked her tongue and began to speak, _“Clarke, why must you be so stubborn?”_

 _“Why must you be such a bitch?”_ Clarke shot back.

Nia sighed, _“You see, this is exactly what I mean. You are exactly like your father. He would get whatever he wanted growing up, and I was left to the side. No one even spared me a glance. In was always Penn this and Penn that.”_

 _“I am proud to be like my father. He was a great man. You are just a hateful woman that no one, not even your own son, looks up to,”_ Clarke stated with a smirk.

 _“Well, my son is a disgrace to Azgeda, just like your mother,”_ the queen sneered.

Clarke’s eyes filled with hatred. She lunges at Nia however, the chains that were keeping her attached to the wall prevented her from reaching the woman. A bone chilling laugh filled the room. Nia sat in the corner amused by Clarke’s behaviour. 

_“You care about your family a lot, don’t you Clarke?”_

Clarke didn’t answer using words. However, both knew the truth of the statement. Clarke’s family was everything to her. 

_“You see Clarke, if you do as I say and just cooperate, then everything will work out just fine. If not, then I will go after those you care about one by one,”_ Nia started with an wicked grin.

Clarke tried so hard not to react. She tried to put on a mask, as Lexa did most of the time. However, it was failing desperately. 

_“It would do you some good to just willingly submit and be my heir. Let me shape you into the ruler you could be,”_ Nia sighed. _“If you don’t, well I will have to resort to other means of obtaining an heir.”_

With that Nia got up and walked out the door. The chair was picked up and taken out of the cell and the door was slammed shut. 

Clarke was left alone with her thoughts again. This time she tried hard to not focus on anything Nia had said. However, that was extremely hard with the threats the woman had made to both her family and her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you liked that chapter! :)
> 
> Let me know what you think in the comments.


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